A NEW national internship scheme is required to help 55,000 graduates currently looking for work, according to Fine Gael backbencher Brian Hayes.
Mr Hayes, the former education spokesman, said the scheme for 18-25-year-olds would help prevent mass unemployment among young people. To date, the existing three schemes to assist graduate employment have managed to provide about 1,700 places nationally. Mr Hayes said this was not enough; a much bolder programme needed to be established quickly.
Under the proposed two-year programme, graduates would be paid a tax-free, PRSI-free allowance. The scheme should be open to all public, private and non governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ireland.
Where an internship was made available and where the relevant skills of the interns were matched to those organisations, 100 per cent of the costs could be recouped. In the case of private businesses and small businesses an 80 per cent rebate might apply.
Registered charities, NGOs, community development groups, universities, small business schools, the semi-State sector and local authorities, among others, could all benefit under such a proposal, he said.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony in UCC, Mr Hayes said the scheme would demonstrate solidarity with young people in a time of crisis.
“It will also give young people work experience rather than having them on the dole. There is very strong international evidence that internship programmes can in many cases lead to full employment. This programme will also encourage employers and the wider community to respond in a creative way to the growing unemployment problem.”
Reflecting on his new role as a backbencher, Mr Hayes, a vocal critic of party leader Enda Kenny, said: “I now find myself in cold storage as it were, a kind of political purgatory.”
He said Ireland could learn from Finland which had been transformed from “a basket case economy into a knowledge economy that is ranked internationally as one of the most competitive and sustainable economies within the OECD”.