Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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17. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide figures for the number of persons who have had their unemployment assistance and unemployment benefit cut because her Department was not satisfied that sufficient effort was being made by the people concerned to find employment. [18968/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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A jobseeker claim can be disallowed where the customer fails to meet the conditions of the scheme, including the requirement to be available for full-time work and genuinely seeking work. Reduced payment rates (penalty rates) for jobseekers were introduced in April 2011 as a means of achieving the engagement of jobseekers with activation measures, including the National Employment Action Plan (NEAP). A penalty of up to €44 per week applies to an individual’s jobseeker payment where there is a failure to engage with this process. The total number of penalty rates applied during 2012 was 1,455. From January to March 2013 the number of penalty rates applied was 619.