Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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545. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on a matter (details supplied) relating to jobseekers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17557/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The current system of establishing if a person  is genuinely seeking work is well established and based on a number of steps that have to be taken by all jobseeker customers in order to satisfy the Department that they are actively seeking work.

These steps may include making oral, written or on-line applications for work, researching job vacancies, availing of training opportunities, acting on the advice given by a case officer or taking steps to become self-employed. 

When deciding whether a person has made genuine efforts to seek employment, a deciding officer considers all the circumstances, taking into account a person’s skills, qualification and work experience, period(s) of unemployment, the efforts made to seek employment, the availability and location of vacancies and the person’s family circumstances.

Case officers in my Department engage with jobseekers on an ongoing basis and work with them to agree a personal progression plan and  support them in order to avail of all reasonable training and employment opportunities offered to them.

The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, including implementing sanctions for failure to engage. Penalty rates were introduced in 2011 as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and to co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. 

In 2018, over 16,000 decisions were made in which a penalty rate was applied where a customer was not considered to be engaging in the return to work process, including not availing of employment opportunities offered to them.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.