Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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267. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the circumstances in which a recipient of jobseeker's payment and jobseeker's benefit would fail or have a sanction of reduced payment applied against them; if there has been any recent changes to those circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36330/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The jobseeker’s benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative employment. It is a fundamental qualifying condition for these schemes that a person must be available for and genuinely seeking full-time work as well as being fully unemployed for at least four in any seven consecutive days. In the case of jobseeker’s benefit, they must also satisfy social insurance contribution and substantial loss of employment conditionality. In the case of jobseeker’s allowance they must satisfy a means test. Claimants are also required to comply with activation measures.

Generally, entitlement under the schemes is withdrawn as a result of failure on the part of a claimant to satisfy fundamental scheme criteria. Consistent with the objective of operating the schemes efficiently and effectively such withdrawals may be temporary in nature or a full disallowance may be imposed depending on the circumstances of an individual case.

Where a person fails, without good cause to comply with activation measures, they may have their personal rate reduced. The normal rate of payment may be reinstated at any time if the jobseeker complies with activation measures. In July 2013, new legal provisions introduced a 9 week disqualification from payment after 3 weeks on a reduced Penalty Rate, for continued failure to engage with activation measures and extended the sanctions to prescribed employment programmes (Community Employment) and education courses. No further changes to the Penalty Rate provisions have been made since then.