THE SOCIAL PROTECTION Minister Joan Burton has revealed that 23 organisations who registered to use JobBridge have since been banned from using it after they were subjected to monitoring visits.

JobBridge, the government’s flagship internship scheme gives participants, who are on social welfare, an extra €50 a week for work carried out with employers who register with the programme.

Burton told the Dáil this afternoon that some businesses were removed from JobBridge because they had in some cases failed to mentor and develop interns, complete monthly updates or provides references for interns.

She also acknowledged that in some of the 2,200 on-site monitoring visits businesses were found to be using interns to undertake duties of displaced staff.

Burton also told the Dáil that as of 27 June a total of 18,587 internship placements had commenced, with 5,934 participants in active internships and 1,936 internship posts advertised and available on the JobBridge website.

A recent independent study found that around two-thirds of interns who finish placements on the JobBridge scheme secured employment within five months.

Read: 217 people have worked JobBridge internships in government departments

Read: Burton thanks JobBridge critics, says the scheme “isn’t for everyone”