Sinn Féin's Deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has hit out at the Government's Job Bridge scheme.

Ms McDonald said it was just an attempt to reduce the Live Register figures and there have been no real jobs for people at the end of it.

She also said there was a two-tier recovery in Dublin city where Job Bridge has not worked for many in working class communities.

The Sinn Féin TD said: "What people will tell you, if you went out into the streets and into the community, is that Job Bridge is not, in real terms, real work for people.

"I think a lot of people feel that they have just been shifted and shunted off the Live Register onto one of these schemes for a few quid in addition to their jobseekers' allowance.

"They are not given the kind of training opportunities and pathways that they need to get into sustainable employment."