The Sunday Business Post published the results of a three month long investigation into Job Bridge on their front page over the weekend.
It relied on a raft of freedom of information requests and a combination of first hand interviews, access to official documents and testimonies from both sides of the scheme.
Dr Mary Murphy took a long look at the whole scheme last year for Impact and the faults are well familiar to rabble readers. Among the litany of monumental fuck ups associated with Job Bridge is the failure of proper monitoring visits and letting businesses that were kicked off the scheme back on with little reason.
Best of all is the mathematics, like numbers about who benefited from it. The HSE used the scheme to fill 399 separate positions in what looked like a cynical tactic to get around a moratorium on hiring. While the GAA took on 249 interns. Even tech giants like Hewlett Packard were in on the act with 176 interns in its ranks. A particularly hustling Supervalu branch in Sallins used a spectacular 161 people.
There’s also an unfortunate sprinkling of NGOs and organizations like ICTU on the list too. Maybe take a look and see what pops out at you.
The good folks are #WorkMustPay have launched a petition calling for the abolition of the whole charade – make sure you sign it here.