Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The figures available to me indicate that in 2011, 359 people were subject to sanctions and penalties for non-engagement with employment and activation schemes. That trebled to 1,519 in 2012, it reached almost 3,400 in 2013, 5,325 in 2014, 6,743 in 2015 and from January to December 2016 it rose to 10,428. That is an increase of 2,300% in five years. All of this has happened while unemployment has been falling, so the percentage of jobseekers who have been subjected to sanctions has increased by perhaps twice as much as 2,300% since 2011. I acknowledge that there must be sanctions in some cases, but it appears that people are being forced into low-paid, insecure jobs that do suit them. They are jobs in which they end up worse off as a result of having to travel to work and so forth. I have encountered people who were forced to undertake training and education courses in which they have absolutely no interest and which they never intend to use. If they do not undertake them, they will be penalised. We have made many recommendations to the Minister on this. An activation service is not a sanctions regime. While there must be sanctions, there surely must be some controls to ensure that people are not forced, for the benefit of employers, into low-paid jobs or into education and training courses that are not suitable for them.

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