Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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317. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons that have been subject to sanctions for non-engagement with activation services in each of the years 2012 to 2016 and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24082/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Penalty rates were introduced as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, including implementing sanctions for failure to engage.

The legislation underpinning the application of penalty rates is provided for in Social Welfare legislation. The application of the penalty provisions can only be applied in specific circumstances and the decision to impose a penalty can only be made by a Deciding Officer of the Department. If dissatisfied with that decision it is open to the Jobseeker to appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.

Details of the numbers of penalty rates applied in the specific years up May 2017, as sought by the Deputy, can be found in the following table.

Number of Penalty Rates applied