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Poll: Would you accept a "modest" water charge?

The expert commission on water is expected to recommend that Irish people must pay some sort of charge to fulfil EU obligations.

THIS MORNING RTÉ reports that the expert commission on water may recommend that a “modest” water charge be implemented here.

The report suggests that sources from the commission say a water charge of some description may need to be put in place in order for Ireland to satisfy its legal obligations to the EU.

The water commission itself was established after Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael came to an arrangement to temporarily suspend the controversial charges which had led to a widespread protest movement.

Just one week after the establishment of the commission in July its chairman Joe O’Toole was forced to resign after giving an interview to the Irish Examiner in which he said he thought people should pay their water charges.

But given the two years of protests that followed the creation of Irish Water and the establishment of water charges, would you be willing to pay a “modest” water charge?

We’re asking: Would you accept a “modest” water charge?


Poll Results:

No (13013)
Yes (8734)
I'm not sure (848)

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308 Comments
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    Mute álainn
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    May 1st 2013, 1:30 PM

    I work in admin/clerical and companies the sector I work in no longer employ people they are getting interns instead. These are companies who can well afford to hire but choosing interns. Very disheartening when you are looking out for a job or knowing that your boss knows he could replace you with an intern.

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    Mute Seán Donnelly
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    May 1st 2013, 1:45 PM

    Yeah LinkedIn were looking for people on Jobbridge a couple of months ago. Big MNCs like them should not be allowed employ people on the scheme as they can more than afford to pay people are proper wage.

    164
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    Mute Wild Rover
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    May 1st 2013, 2:26 PM

    Job bridge is a complete scam which allows the abuse of an unemployed person for 9 months , the companies profiting from this scheme should be named shamed and boycotted . The other thing it contributes to is keeping skilled and educated people out of work by filling the position with a €50 euro a week worker .

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    Mute Fiona Ryan
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    May 1st 2013, 3:05 PM

    Absolutely, it’s forcing skilled workers into underpaid, non unionised labour by threatening to cut their dole entirely.

    Why the hell would companies hire full time workers when they get paid to take in interns for free! It’s a scam.

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    Mute Yellow Elk
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    May 1st 2013, 4:06 PM

    Not a huge fan of JobBridge myself Fiona, but I haven’t heard of a single case where someone was told that they had to do an internship or their SW payment would be cut off entirely. I don’t think that would even be legally possible. Care to expand?

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    Mute Fiona Ryan
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    May 1st 2013, 4:12 PM

    I could be wrong, it might have been a different scheme as he was interviewed separate from the job he ended up working in, and then given a list of what he’d be interested in doing and then one was chosen for him, but I had a friend who was told that if he didn’t come for the interview he would be cut off, unless he could give a legitimate reason for not working.

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    Mute Wild Rover
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    May 2nd 2013, 1:51 AM

    Have a look at the story above about the DAA profits they also looked for jobbridge staff , very disappointing to see this another failed labour policy allowing the right to abuse workers .

    5
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    Mute Jonny Rigley
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    May 1st 2013, 1:26 PM

    3 out of 5 interns secured paid employment. . in australia.

    207
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    Mute Sarah B81
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    May 1st 2013, 1:37 PM

    I completed a 9month Internship in September I am still unemployed and it was a form of slave labour.

    205
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    Mute Diarmuid O Brien
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    May 1st 2013, 3:18 PM

    have to agree with u sarah..im still on job bridge and its a complete slave labour scheme.. only thing i like about it is i can say i worked for my money and at this stage it beats sitting at home. joan burton needs to enforce employment after a certain period of time. fellas i work with on it 3 years now and no sign of employment..

    60
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    Mute Rory McNulty
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    May 1st 2013, 4:58 PM

    It was only launched in late Summer 2011. Someone couldn’t be on it for three years.

    35
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    Mute Dave O'Hanlon
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    May 1st 2013, 5:26 PM

    @Rory. There was already a Work Placement programme in place, its actually still going as well, main difference is you dont get an extra 50euro.

    29
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    Mute Sarah Butler
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    May 1st 2013, 6:12 PM

    I’ve completed 6 out of 9 months of my internship & they have made at least 30% (probably more) of the workforce in the company redundant in that time. Not a chance I’ll be kept on. I really think that only companies that are willing to actually hire the intern after their 6/9 month placement should be allowed participate. I’m worried I’ll find myself in the same position as SarahB81 come August. Minimum experience for most jobs in this field is two years & I’ll only have 9 months.

    33
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    Mute John Murray
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    May 1st 2013, 7:08 PM

    Diarmuid Jobbridge has a max 9 month internship and then the employer cannot use the scheme again for a further 12 months. It must be a different scheme you were on for 3 years.

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    Mute Diarmuid O Brien
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    May 2nd 2013, 12:21 AM

    sorry john ur right ..its community employment scheme.. kinda the same thing tho!!!!!!

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    Mute Billy Nomates
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    May 2nd 2013, 9:36 AM

    No it’s not

    4
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    Mute Andrew Telford
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    May 1st 2013, 1:50 PM

    Can we get a list of the 15 companies so as informed consumers we can choose to take our business elsewhere?

    162
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    Mute ross o carroll kelly
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    May 1st 2013, 8:04 PM

    Slave labour with a new face

    47
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    Mute Gerard Murphy
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    May 1st 2013, 10:00 PM

    Some one should inform the Pope about this JOBBRIDGE, he seems to have come out strongly against ‘slave labour’ and capitalism
    “Bangladesh ‘slave labour’ condemned by Pope” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22370487#TWEET741265

    11
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    Mute Johnny Reynolds
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    May 1st 2013, 1:30 PM

    The HSE abusing JobBridge. How are the people meant to get full time employment there after the 9 month period when there’s an employment embargo

    123
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    Mute Derek McKenna ✅
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    May 1st 2013, 1:42 PM

    Government sanctioned slave labour. Have a look on their site. They were looking for a “warehouse operative” intern and a “fish filleter” intern last week. I wish I was joking because if it were not so sad it would be hilarious
    It is a pure scam! Have a read of some of the stories on http://www.scambridge.ie

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    Mute Zachary W. Hennessy
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    May 1st 2013, 2:22 PM

    Saw an internship for stockperson in an off licence. What exactly will you learn doing that job?

    Ill admit there are some good internships but there is also a lot of companies looking to save money by hiring slave labour.

    86
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    Mute Rick MacRory
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    May 1st 2013, 4:09 PM

    Zachary
    You can’t argue with the sixty per cent and the Companies banned from the scheme which clearly shows its being managed properly.

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    Mute Zachary W. Hennessy
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    May 1st 2013, 4:31 PM

    Actually I can and the above example is a perfect indication of what some employers think of the internship program. Not all mind but some

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    Mute Andy Cleary
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    May 1st 2013, 1:41 PM

    I was one of those 3 that got a paid job at the end of my internship.

    103
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    Mute Christian Coady
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    May 1st 2013, 2:05 PM

    Job bridge is a joke. Loads of firms who would otherwise be hiring graduates for paid employment are churning through interns for 50 squid a week instead.

    79
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    Mute Norman Hunter
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    May 1st 2013, 2:24 PM

    Christian the employer doesn’t even pay €50 a week.SW gives every Intern an extra €50 on top of there benefit a week to take up these positions.

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    Mute Christian Coady
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    May 1st 2013, 2:27 PM

    Shocking

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    Mute Tom Rooney
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    May 1st 2013, 3:06 PM

    The tax payer pays that €50 the company pays zero.

    42
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    Mute The whistler
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    May 1st 2013, 2:24 PM

    wonder what percentage of newly unemployed have lost their jobs due to Joanies little slaves being brought into their workplace.

    75
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    Mute Michael
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    May 1st 2013, 1:23 PM

    How many resources in the economy are we diverting to this quango??

    If you lowered taxes and regulations on small business, you’d achieve much better results.

    The broken glass fallacy is in the spotlight again…

    70
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    Mute Eamonn Bolger
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    May 1st 2013, 2:48 PM

    I’ve seen spin but this beats all.

    47
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    Mute Yellow Elk
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    May 1st 2013, 3:59 PM

    Do you even know what the term quango means or are you just saying it because it sounds fun? JobBridge is not a quango – it’s a scheme administered by the Department of Social Protection.

    24
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    Mute Hilary McDuffy
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    May 1st 2013, 1:58 PM

    Propaganda wheel spinning on behalf of the Joan and Enda circus,

    60
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    Mute Cindy Byrne
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    May 1st 2013, 6:03 PM

    Delighted to say I am happily in fulltime employment with the company I spent my 9month placement with seems they are few and far between!!

    56
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    Mute Itiswhatitis
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    May 1st 2013, 3:00 PM

    This is pure lies I know for a fact it is pure lies. I work for a company that hired many but kept none and I know of many large companies that have done similar.

    FG propaganda as usual.

    54
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    Mute Fiona Ryan
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    May 1st 2013, 3:08 PM

    It skews the live register in the governments favour also. Since interns and those in Solis courses aren’t documented under the live register, they can say that their keeping the unemployment rates steady but the true numbers are far higher than the 14% that they’re saying.

    50
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    Mute Nigel O Keeffe
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    May 1st 2013, 2:45 PM

    saw one on it a while ago offering..i shit you not”experience in the preparation of fuel,and bagging of same and customer service/sales”

    yep,you guessed it,selling blocks door to door.

    47
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    Mute William Delaney
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    May 1st 2013, 1:56 PM

    That’s another fine MESS you got us into Enda…….

    40
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    Mute Wayne Scales
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    May 1st 2013, 2:28 PM

    I wonder how the full time employees who list their jobs to interns feel?

    39
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    Mute TheIrishBrain
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    May 1st 2013, 1:35 PM

    Another Astroturfing story.

    34
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    Mute Paul Smith
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    May 1st 2013, 4:23 PM

    I know a place where they had an Health & Safety position,a mate got the internship for 9 months and at end was told thank you very much and good luck…….now 4 weeks later they are looking for another intern in same dept,to do same job…..this company is a huge multi national,another advertisement I seen recently was for a forecourt attendant in a petrol station.

    32
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    Mute Diarmuid O Brien
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    May 1st 2013, 3:25 PM

    absolute bullshit from joan burton. i work with about 5 fellas on it.not one of us has got a job from it and some have served 3 years and have been told time is up soon that they will be gone.. 4 years down the drain to be unemployed again..sad to say but my advise to any1 is stay at home this is a scam unless u can really find a sound boss who is actually genuine enough to keep u on

    32
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    Mute John Murray
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    May 1st 2013, 7:13 PM

    Again Diarmuid the max length of a jobbridge internship is 9 months and the employer cannot re-apply to take a new intern on for a further 12 months. Maybe you are on another scheme. I hope you find work soon. It’s certainly tough out there.

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    Mute Diarmuid O Brien
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    May 2nd 2013, 12:23 AM

    thanks john ..I replied to ur other reply there ur ight..community employment scheme.. kinda the same thing.. thank you for your well wishes

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    Mute Donal Martin
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    May 1st 2013, 4:32 PM

    Did nine months. Still looking for work. It’s a joke.

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    Mute E usher
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    May 1st 2013, 3:31 PM

    When an employer employs an intern full time after the internship is up that employer does not have to pay prsi for the first year, so after this year is up the employer can let the employee go and take on another intern for a internship then employ them for a year then let that one go and it keeps going.

    31
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    Mute Ciaran McCann
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    May 1st 2013, 4:12 PM

    The FAI had an intern job bridge vacancy not so long ago on jobs.ie!! THE FAI!!

    23
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    Mute Nicola_Lady
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    May 1st 2013, 6:14 PM

    as a student made recently redundant(can’t draw dole) job bridge really pisses me off! i am more than qualified for half these “internships”,have over 10 years retail experience.But! because im not on the dole- i can’t do them.i am really struggling financially now and finding a job is becoming but a bitter distant memory. Its a disgrace that some of these companies could offer a decent wage/ job security but they go for the cheap option with no job security for those involved- the mind boggles.

    19
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    Mute Pete Gibson
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    May 1st 2013, 2:57 PM

    The multinationals would have hired them anyway.
    Unlike in the Public Sector …….
    The private sector examines minutely what good you are doing in the job.
    Love to have those standards in Irish public sector!
    Half of Irish public sector workers would be sacked by the standards of Intel.

    19
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    Mute Maria Dardis
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    May 1st 2013, 7:10 PM

    @Peter what would you do if you did not have the public sector to moan about? It seems like the only people capable of doing a good days work is the private sector….who we are bailing out for their greedy mistakes of the past! ! Do you think Boucher is doing a good job on 843k a year and the bank loosing 2bn. Something not right here…..

    7
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    Mute Tom Newell
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    May 1st 2013, 8:33 PM

    slavebrige is alive and well wonder would edna, happy gilmore and the gang in power go on jobs bridge

    17
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    Mute Yellow Elk
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    May 1st 2013, 3:56 PM

    This research is based on a survey of interns and host organisations, with no objective assessment of the quality of internships on offer. There’s nothing wrong with surveys, but the lack of any other research means that the report doesn’t address the problem that companies are converting what were traditionally unskilled or low-skilled jobs (e.g. caretaking, cleaning, waitressing, shelf stacking, etc.) to “internships”. Regardless of whether these internships do eventally get people into employment, surely the question needs to be asked: do we want to create a situation in which people can’t get a job in Tesco unless they intern for nine months first? That seems crazy to me.

    Also, the report mentions (but doesn’t highlight) that 55% of those going into employment after an internship were going into temp work. So it’s more than likely that they’ll be back on the live register within six to twelve months.

    15
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    Mute padser123
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    May 1st 2013, 4:43 PM

    I think, it is a good idea – but the €50 is paltry. There needs to be a ‘cash’ commitment from the Employer and one that reflects the type of work undertaken and or the Travel expenses incurred. I know Business’s need help, but they can’t have it all their own way! So now they are going to extend the amount of placements – and in mid 2013 they will give 25% wages rebate to employers who take people off the live register.

    14
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    Mute Danielle Kennedy
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    May 2nd 2013, 12:17 AM

    Our intern finished last week and was offered full time work with us, when she started her internship we had no position for someone at her skill level but during her time we continually trained and up-skilled her so she could take a position. I feel like we’re one of the very few using the scheme correctly. When the scheme is not abused its fantastic, great for the employer and the employee.

    14
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    Mute Aine Ni Chroinin
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    May 1st 2013, 6:36 PM

    Local FG TD had his pre-election position up on jobs bridge locally – if that doesn’t stink I don’t know what does

    11
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    Mute Gerard Murphy
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    May 1st 2013, 3:03 PM

    Some perhaps relevent information, although I am confused as to when the report was released, it seems to me that a preliminary report was released in Oct 2012, because no link was provided with todays article it is hard to tell if this is just the ‘final’ part of that report. Anyhow here is what one guy thought of the OCT 2012 report
    http://irisheconthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/indecons-interim-evaluation-of-jobbridge/

    9
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    Mute Yellow Elk
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    May 1st 2013, 4:02 PM

    The report published in October was an interim (draft) report. The report published today is the final version.

    Thanks for the link, it’s an interesting post!

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    Mute Dave O'Hanlon
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    May 1st 2013, 5:34 PM

    I reckon the thinking behind it is to give people experience so they have a better chance of getting a job abroad and off they go emmigrate and the live register stats look a little healthier, then come the self congratulations.

    7
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    Mute awaytafuk
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    May 2nd 2013, 12:13 AM

    This is one of the biggest balls of shit that the government is trying to push down the road and now they are trying to manipulate the media to justify it. Piss the fupp off Ends and co.

    5
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    Mute Siobhan Ryan
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    May 2nd 2013, 8:26 AM

    What’s the story with job bridge and mortgage protection, technically your not employed your up skilling apparently, and still paid by social welfare even though your hidden off the unemployment register?

    1
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