Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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154. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have had a penalty applied to their social welfare payments for refusing to take part in an activation scheme. [28248/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In order to qualify for a Jobseeker payment, a person must meet certain conditions, including the requirement to be available for, capable of and genuinely seeking full-time work. A range of sanctions, including partial disqualification, closure or disallowance of the jobseeker claim, may be imposed where a client fails to meet the stated conditions. A Jobseeker claim may be reviewed at any time in order to establish continued entitlement.

Additionally, in relation to activation, legislation provides that penalties in the form of reduced payments may be imposed by a Deciding Officer where clients fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures. Activation measures include the requirement to attend group or individual meetings, and/or avail of suitable education, training or development opportunities, or specified employment programmes, which are considered appropriate to a person’s circumstances.

Where a person continues to fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures, while on a penalty rate, he/she may be disqualified from receiving the personal rate of payment. The normal rate of payment may be reinstated at any time, if the jobseeker complies, as requested, with activation measures.

The total numbers of penalty rates applied, since their inception in 2011 to end June, 2015, are indicated in the table below.