Just three of 112 job scheme interns kept on by Kerry County Council

Just three of the 112 unemployed people taken on by Kerry County Council under the JobBridge and Gateway employment schemes went on to secure permanent employment with the local authority. A further six people were hired on a temporary basis the council.

The controversial JobBridge scheme, which has since been scrapped, was introduced by the then minister for social protection Joan Burton in 2011 to provide work experience opportunities for unemployed people.

The scheme involved a six or nine-month internship for people unemployed for at least three months. Applicants retained their social welfare payments, which were topped up by €50 a week.

Detractors said the scheme ran the risk of introducing an “internship free-for-all” in the Republic and large scale employers such as Tesco were criticised for offering JobBridge internships for roles such as “customer assistants” who would fill shelves and ensure “customers would not have to queue”.

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Kerry County Council took on 42 people under the JobBridge programme, a meeting of Tralee Municipal District council was told.

Under the Gateway scheme, a work and training programme for long-term unemployed people managed by the local authorities, the council took on 70 people who received their social welfare as well as an additional €22.50.

Information provided to Sinn Féin councillor Pa Daly by way of council motion stated that of the 112 people who worked for the council through the two programmes, a total of nine were re-employed when their time on the schemes ended.

The council’s senior manager Charlie O’Sullivan said it was not permissible under either scheme to facilitate the retention of participants in the capacity in which they were employed or engaged.

Mr Daly criticised the number of people employed by the council as a result of the schemes and said the information provided on them was “vague”.

His party colleague Toireasa Ferris said the ratio of those employed to those taken on through the schemes was “scandalous” and reflected badly on the local authority.

The national schemes forced people to participate in “slave labour”, and it was cheap labour for the civil service in Ireland, Ms Ferris said, referencing a European Union report on the matter.

Effectively people were put working for €20 and jobs had not resulted, she said.

“It is absolutely scandalous the level of deception that went on,” the councillor said.