Galway has been earmarked for up to 1,000 places on Fine Gael’s National Internship Programme for unemployed graduates, according to the party’s Galway West candidate Brian Walsh.
The programme is designed to provide part-time placements for people with third-level qualifications, while subsidising them to continue their studies in college. Some 13,000 places would be allocated nationally under the plan.
Under the internship proposals, part-time placements in the public service, and the private and the voluntary sector would be offered to unemployed graduates. The participants would work in schools, local authorities and hospitals.
A €3,000 ‘Education Voucher’ will form part of the programme. This will subsidise participants to continue their studies to Masters level or higher while continuing to work in the internship programme.
Councillor Walsh Galway could expect to receive “a relatively high proportion of these places due to the presence of NUI, Galway and the GMIT in the city, and the number of hospitals, schools and administrative agencies at which the placements could be based.
“This is one of a number of innovative measures to tackle the unemployment crisis and create over 100,000 jobs that have been outlined by Fine Gael,” said Cllr Walsh. “It offers a lifeline to thousands of highly skilled graduates who are currently faced with no alternative but to emigrate.”
Cllr Walsh said the programme will provide 13,000 people with an alternative to emigrating and that it could also “help to shore up an ailing public service that is struggling” as a result of the recruitment ban.
“Our hospitals would certainly stand to benefit from the availability of interns who are highly trained in the relevant fields,” he said, “but have been unable to find work in the healthcare sector as a result of the swingeing recruitment moratorium.”
