We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
A SECONDARY SCHOOL in Limerick city has raised some eyebrows after it posted five advertisements on JobBridge, one looking for a cleaner.
Ardscoil Rís, an all boys school on the North Circular Road, sought a cleaning assistant, a catering assistant, a security personnel, a laboratory technician, and someone to work in IT maintenance and training.
The description of the cleaning position read:
The intern will gain practical experience in 1: Use of industrial cleaning equipment 2: Provision of a high standard of work 4: Stock-taking of cleaning materials. The intern will receive formal/informal training in the following 1: Ordering stock 2: Maintenance and use of equipment 3: Maintaining quality of work. On completion the intern will have attained skills in 1: Planning and implementation of cleaning schedules 2: Providing a high quality standard of wowk in a busy environment 3: Communication skills.
In all five cases the positions were nine months in length and said the interns would be paid an allowance of €50 per week in addition to their current social welfare payment. The closing date for applicants was Monday, August 12 and the ads were removed from the JobBridge sit after the deadline passed.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education and Skills said they were “aware of the positions which have been advertised by a school in Limerick, some of which would appear to offer valuable training and work experience options for people who are currently out of work”.
The statement to TheJournal.ie added that it wanted to “remind all schools that internships must not cause an existing member of staff to be displaced from the school”.
Willie O’Dea, TD for Limerick City and Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Social Protection, said “five seems pretty high alright”, but added “schools are struggling at the moment with grants being taken away”.
O’Dea has spoken out in the past about Joan Burton’s JobBridge scheme and told TheJournal.ie that companies that were found to be exploiting the scheme should be “removed from the list”.
When asked about the five posts at Ardscoil Rís, the Department of Social Protection said:
Applications from Host Organisations will only be accepted for advertisement on the JobBridge site if they are deemed to offer a quality internship experience to prospective interns and in particular to improve in employment prospects of interns.
The department added the “the maximum number of internships a host organisation can offer at any one time is dependent on their number of full time employees”:
| Number of Full Time Employees | Number of Internships |
| 1-10 employees | 1 internship place |
| 11-20 employees | 2 internship places |
| 21-30 employees | 3 internship places |
| 30 + employees | 20% of the workforce to a maximum of 200 internships whichever is the smaller |
When contacted by TheJournal.ie about the number and quality of the internships, school principal, Brid de Brún issued this statement:
I wish to advise you that the Board of Management of Ardscoil Rís is fully compliant with the terms of the JobBridge scheme.
The five JobBridge posts, which have since been removed, can be seen here:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Public exploitation, job bridge is a scam.
Didn’t a church force its full time staff out in order to replace them with job bridge people. Somewhere in North county Dublin I think
Sure is.i seen jobs for bartenders and waiters.how is this giving the unemployed a opportunity to find that step on the ladder for the smart economy they government keep harping on about.
Companies taking advantage of the situation and people.
This programme is illegal and should be called the slave labour programme, basically its allowing employers to get somebody to work for them for a full week and they’re getting well below minimum wage. Sure that €50 extra they get a week would pay for their travel and lunches so basically they really get nothing extra. The labour courts need to look into this. How can somebody make a living when they are being ripped off?
Slavery very much alive
Can I post this jobbridge ad? -
Wanted: Taoiseach.
Not replacing existing role as existing person absolved themselves from role straight after election.
Would struggle to meet 20 percent rule as it would be hard to find 4 other people actually doing any work in the dail.
Went to Ard Scoil myself. For the last few years it has gone very snobby and looking for loads of money in contributions etc. Hate to say this because I mostly liked it there but I think they can afford to pay cleaners.
I’ve always wanted to be an apprentice cleaner. Such an intricate profession to get into. Great opportunity for someone.
No one should be expected to work for €50 per week , cleaning done well is a profession, it requires planning and execution just like any other position.
Slave labour
How is the HSE allowed to use jobsbridge when it has a recruitment ban in place. Surely one of the stipulations of jobsbridge is that the person must be in with a chance of gettin a job with employer when the term finishes? But the HSE can’t offer that due to the ban
this is Ireland. you can get away with a lot worse
slavery is what it is. I wonder if the head teacher or there teaching staff would work for €50 on top of the social welfare. Its a joke
There are job bridge ads for teachers in other schools. Crazy stuff.
JobBridge is necessary to fiddle the books on unemployment so the sheep of Ireland can rest easily at night that things look better then they are.
That job bridge is a pure joke!
Minimum wage …the hint is in the title…dressing up these jobs like a cleaner in a school as being “useful schemes” to address the unemployment problem is just disgraceful , paying 50 euro for a weeks work should not be given government approval just so they can play fast and loose with the unemployment stats , absolutely shameful
What a scam. A days work deserves a day pay. End of story.
The intern will gain practical use in 1- using no 3 when making lists.
I thought the jobbridge scheme was finishing in July 2013, why are positions still being advertised? The scheme can be useful but only for certain people /situations, if you’re struggling for money, give it a miss..I desperately needed the cash so I did one for nine months, working 13days straight days at times. I’m now back on the dole and someone is now doing the same role as I did, there is a position there to be filled but let’s get over qualified ppl to do the job for free is what JB is all about. Joke.
But imagine what you could do with €50. That’s a life changing amount of money. You could spend it on your bus fair getting to work.
50 euro a week extra may barely cover transport to and from your job bridge placement. This scheme is NOT benefiting the unemployed it’s only benefiting employers. There should be a limit on the amount of roles you can fill with job bridge as five is too many. The government would be delighted if this school recruited all its staff by job bridge and forget about paying real salaries altogether. It’s a joke .
Jobbridge could work if it had proper monitoring and policing. However, we should know that self-monitoring, limited monitoring and the honesty system doesn’t work in our public and government systems and businesses.
I think I will advertise my services as an author of flowery job descriptions that mean nothing !
Like anything in this screwed up nation things are subject to abuse. Some employers are abusing this scheme.
If Jobsbridge is designed to offer a person to try and gain experience in a new field, why are alot of the internships only open to qualified people ? Surely the point is to train these interns so they can look at new careers.
That would be called common sense, but we both know common sense can be lacking in this country at the best of times.
Scambridge! google it , and see whats going on.
It’s a disgrace!!!!!!!!! Everyone seems to be jumping on the job bridge bandwagon…! It needs to be stopped! No wonder there are no permanent jobs out there with these businesses abusing the facilities and taking advantage of people who are desperate to get back to work. It’s an utter disgrace and the government agencies that are allowing this to happen should be reprimanded !
If you wanted a job badly enough or were struggling to fed, clothe and keep your kids warm you wouldn’t care that its only €50 extra a week, you’d be delighted.
I just finished a job bridge internship in a library. I think if they could guarantee you a paid job after you’ve put your soul into a place for nine months the scheme would be perfect.
As it is, its a total joke. That library is horribly under staffed, there’s really no reason why there shouldn’t be a full time job available.
I was lucky enough that I got to work with some really lovely people, but not everyone is that lucky.
I’m still unemployed. All I want is a job!!!
I’ve just spent 3 years doing the same in a crèche and I won’t get a job there either but I’ve got three years wages and new options now open to me. There are no guarantees in life but things like job bridge give new experiences and options for other employment
Rachel: do you think that makes it acceptable?! All your argument does is illustrate exactly how labour exploitation works. That doesn’t make it right.
(my comment is directed at your first comment, by the way… )
Personally I’d predate to work than sit at home, just my opinion. I was getting 80€ on dole and get 200€ on CEscheme so I was better off plus I now have a recognised qualification in Childcare and I’ve been able to gain new experiences. As I said its only my opinion
Fair enough (for you) but that’s sounds like a far better deal than what’s being offered under JobBridge. Particularly if the “valuable” new skills you’re learning include how to make a toilet cleaning schedule sheet.
CE schemes are completely different, you do a half a weeks work for a half a weeks pay, leaving you free to do other things or another P.T job to top up your money. Also there are training opportunities there if you want them. You have no free time on scam bridge to do anything only sit at home depressed about having the utter piss taken.
I love how Ardscoil ris are happy to take in cleaners from the general populace but you only stand a chance of getting a student place if Daddy went. the prioritisation of past pupils offspring is one way of keeping immigrants, travellers and council estate residents out
@squid. Re the alleged discrimination toward students from a particular area etc.Have you any proof to back this up ?
It is a means to keep “undesirables” out. look at their enrolment policy. Ardscoil Ris participate in the Common Application System for secondary schools, but before they go to the pool of applicants in the CAS they give priority to the children of past pupils. by the time we get round to the foreign, traveller, and council estate applications all the places are suddenly filled
@John Hannon
The former principle of the school, Michael Field, allowed for his daughter and one female friend to attend the school, despite it being all boys Christian Brother’s school, at a time in the mid 90s when places for boys in secondary schools were extremely limited.
I even benefited from the enrolment “policy” myself when I moved to Limerick in ’93 and gained a place only because a family friend had connections, again to Michael Field.
Gaining a place in the school has always been primarily based on who you know, or who you are. Every past pupil of the school knows this.
A school I went to posted 7 there a few weeks ago
Name and Shame them.
Nooo it just 1 of very little secondary schools in Carlow . Lab assistant librarian ,care taker ,catering staff , grounds person , reception , part time reception
Pity Willie ODea, a TD for 35 years, didn’t get jobs for limerick !
He was neglecting the auld pump was he??
What is most troubling is the almost complete lack of union action on these scams. Árd Scoil should be shamed into taking down those jobs.
UCD did this recently too
Fantastic idea. Better than sitting at home twiddling thumbs
It’s a sham! If there’s work in your company for an employee for 39 hours of the week well then employ someone proper! There’s companies ringing up to ask how many employees they can let go so they can fill with job bridge! It’s the blind and the Do- gooders keeping this system alive!
Have to say if I was unemployed, last thing I’d want is to be exploited for an extra €50 a week….but if it meant the difference between putting food on the table or not, I know I’d probably swallow my pride and just do it if I had to. Though, working for minimum wage would probably be a better option
shame on you Ard Scoil Ris and the arrogance of Brid de Brun, is this what we are teaching our young people? to take advantage of people, this is what the bankers did to all of us!
So what? Nothing wrong here.
Why not force the employer to pay say €100 a week to the intern? Then we would weed out the exploitative oxygen thieves of employers, and be left with genuine cases. The intern would get €340, be able to live and would probably have a more positive experience. Why should the employer have to contribute nothing?
I’m currently on Jobsbridge, I have to say I was very skeptical before I took it on but I decided after weighing up the pros and cons I would only work for a reputable company that respects people. I’m happy where I am and the training is great, I have started studying towards a qualification which is being paid for. I don’t know for certain if I will get a paid contract but things are very positive and the management like me, I put this down to my attitude which has been consistently jovial and committed, if I am given a trivial or a complicated task I always approached it like a professional, never complained, am always on time and have not missed a day. I’m motivated by things other than money (at the moment) and the management can see this, you can’t buy certain traits or attitudes, there was one other intern but that person has left and it was noted that their attitude was poor; always complaining or thinking they were better than they were, like a chip in their shoulder etc. Opportunities are what you make of them, being on the dole is soul destroying especially if you are a graduate, it feels like you have wasted 3/4 years studying, but we all go through the same things being unemployed no matter our backgrounds. I would rather work somewhere that has chances for me to improve myself than be on minimum wage in a dead-end job, but that’s just my opinion. Josbridge is very far from perfect, but look at the state of our country in general, do ye really think things are going to improve here anytime soon? I would of went back to university but my grant was rejected, would have emigrated but I have no money, I was left with the choice of Jobsbridge or dole, you know the rest.
How can people call this slavery when it’s optional? Nobody is forced to take up a job working for €50 a week. If a job does not offer real experience, then the post won’t be filled. If someone does take up this cleaning job, then obviously they feel it is a worthwhile use of their time.
Some people may feel they have to do one of these jobs to bridge that 50 euro gap in expenses each week. It’s a case of having to for some I’d say. In my books that’s taking advantage of the vulnerable
It’s not really that optional for some people who are desperate to get back to work and the extra €50 is the difference between them having a hit meal that week and not having one! These businesses are exploiting this facility for their own financial gain..
Austin get you’re head out of the sand,if you don’t comply with scambridge they cut you’re social welfare off,I was on a tus scheme and they fill you’re head up with what you want to hear,like great work experience and chances are high that you get a job after it!!after my 12 months was up I was just flung back onto the social welfare scheme,I’m now starting a course in collage next month so onwards and upwards fingers crossed
I’m a former student at the school and I’m absolutely disgusted with it. I’m writing an open letter of opposition to this practice to the school’s PTA and teachers and getting as many past pupils as possible to put their name to it.
What kind of an example is this to be setting its pupils; that its okay to exploit people and that their future labour is worth nothing?
Its a total joke. I spoke to a person involved in an independent training company doing work for FAS recently. One of the criteria for keeping contracts is for trainees to be steered to jobs or jobbridge. Both have the same standing with FAS as far as monitoring goes!
I was under the impression that the teachers panel was to be cleared first before you could employ outside the panel. May be some one can clarify this. But then if you want to work as an SNA all the dept of ed state is you require is a jnr cert, which is stupid as 90% of SNA have a qualification I have a diploma + 1st aid etc. I know of schools who have used jobs bridge (scam bridge) to employ SNA, My question is “If 1 of the idiots who came up with the idea of scam bridge would be happy for someone who had no qualification to work with their child with special needs ” the answer is NO, They would be looking for every qualification in the book.
have your say