Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Social Protection, John Brady TD, has called on Minister Leo Varadkar to immediately scrap the controversial JobsBridge scheme.

Mr Brady was speaking after a report by auditors in the Department of Social Protection found its monitoring system is unable to ensure JobsBridge is not resulting in job displacement.

He said: "The details in this leaked report are not in the least bit surprising. Sinn Féin has long highlighted the role of Jobsbridge in the exploitation of workers and the displacement of jobs.

"Employers involved in such exploitation are still using Jobsbridge to their advantage. That such exploitation is being funded by the taxpayer is a scandal.

"Sinn Féin has published an alternative to JobsBridge which would allow for tailored internship programmes with meaningful learning opportunities. We have proposed an internship scheme focused on getting people back to work and supporting jobseekers to attain real quality jobs."

(CD/JP)