Garda wife: 'There are weeks I can't put food on the table'

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plant43

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Is there anyone else following this story in the IT

[broken link removed]

Something doesn't quite add up here. I ran the figures presented through one of the tax calculators and it indicates that even after pension, usc etc.. are taken out that the net pay is 3600 euro per month. Yes, the mortgage is on the high side but even after that is paid there is still 2200 euro left over which I would assume would allow a family to live comfortably.

I think there is some other debt that is not being disclosed.
 
Too many of these stories pulling at the heart strings. With a surplus of over 2k per month, there is something clearly not right.

Being the skeptic that I am are these stories on the level?
 
Have to agree that something doesn't seem right, is there other personal debt, why have health insurance if you can't feed yourself. This coupled with the out of work 'actor' yesterday all over the radio and news doesn't sit right with me (he was talking of the gym etc).
 
Yes, I agree that there's something else there as the figures don't look quite right.

The other thing that hopped off the page at me was continuing to pay €75 a week (€4K pa) on health insurance when she says there are some days when the whole family eats nothing but cornflakes. If they are down to €109 a week to pay for everything after mortgage and utilities, €75 would make a huge difference. Our public health system is not THAT bad particularly for their 4 children. As spending for the good of their health, the €75 would be better spent on food than health insurance which may or may not be needed.
 
Also the manic anticipation of sending children to University. In my mind, if you are living day to day you are not thinking of the days when your kids are heading to Uni. Its one day at a time.

Agree, no need for the expensive health insurance.

Heard the actor speaking about stealing food. Still trying to get my head around that one!

There was somebody on the radio yesterday from the SVP speaking about delivering dried food to a household. He went onto explain a heartbreaking story of a child getting excited over a box of porridge. Again its getting near to Christmas and we are barraged with these stories.

On another note, seems to be quite a lot of these open letters appearing on the newspaper desks, politicians facebook pages and open forums etc. Who's to say what's real and whats not?
 
€109 per week after bills PLUS child benefit of over €500 a month PLUS €500 a month after tax not on his weekly pay slip.This along with cancelling the health insurance would amount way over €400 a week after bills and mortgage.
A touch of the poor mouth I think.
 
Funnily enough I earn very close to what that Garda earns. We are also a one income family. My rent is €300 less than what their mortgage costs, but for a smaller house.

I save €500-600 per month, we would have a take away or eat out regularly, we really don't watch our spending (I am not proud of that, we are trying to change), we own a 'nice enough' 2005 car (worth €4000 or so), we clear our credit card each month, and we are finanically secure and happy (long may it continue).

Perhaps instead of MABS they could be referred to me, as clearly I possess the secrets to financial security (which is news to me!)

Presumably if a Garda Sgt's family has these problems then a regular Garda's family must be utterly destitute.
 
The Garda and the actor are living like Lords compared to me! ~sob~

No wonder the banks are suspicious of debtors looking for loans to be rescheduled.

If most of these stories are a figment of somebody or some groups imagination, well I must say they are making a pigs ear of the cause.
 
This is nauseating! He earns €65K a year? I earn less than half that!

The woman wrote that even though her eldest child got enough points to go to a prestigious college they couldn’t afford the fees
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That's ridiculous! The means is out there these days for people to do whatever they want to do. 'College' isn't necessarily such a great thing. If I was to do it all over again, I would have worked and studied part time. However, in the context of someone who says they have 'cornflakes days', this is utter nonsense!

After tax, Universal Social Charge, pension, health insurance, mortgage and utility deductions, a typical weekly payslip shows a net payment of €109.
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As someone has already pointed out - remove the health insurance - and that's it - problem solved.

In fairness, there are probably real cases of people in difficult circumstances - but this example is ridiculous! Why would they even publish that?
 
Here's a more detailed article on the same couple

[broken link removed]

(This reproduces the original article and Kathy Sheridan adds more detail afterwards)

"How can this happen to a family with an annual income of about €75,000 gross (including overtime and allowances) last year?"

"They know that the €77.06 weekly rent allowance (designed to cover the cost of gardaí being obliged to live away from their home area), will probably be a target of the cuts." - I presume this is an extra payment on top of the €75K gross

"Not featured in the payslip is a payment of €500 a month, after tax, to cover unsocial hours. For Colm, this is compensation for six consecutive nights a month of 10-hour duty, plus Saturday and Sunday work."
 
On a serious note, the Irish Times says it has "established the facts to its satisfaction" in relation to this article. That just cannot be possible. No way.

If the wife is not working, then the husband would get her personal tax credit and he'd have an extended lower rate tax band, no?

He is on €75k. So with these extra credits, and taking into account the pension levy etc, he is on something like €3,700 a month.

The article doesn't mention how many kids they have, but they must have at least three including the older one who got into college and the unspecified "younger children". Let's assume she gets three childrens allowances a month. That's another €520.

so... their net income is about €4,200 a month. The mortgage is €1,400. Health insurance is a whopping €300. They have no other debts, allegedly.

That still leaves a very comfortable €2,500 a month to pay all bills, food etc. That's easy peasy stuff....... They must have huge debts they didn't tell the Irish Times about. There is no other way.

This article is an insult to the thousands of people who are genuinely suffering silently in demi-poverty.

The Irish Times has serious questions to answer over it....
 
It is a very odd article. I don't doubt they are under pressure, but I don't think all the facts are there. If they bought at the height of the boom, and her husband is over 50, did they not have a big deposit? Because of this, I'm assuming they aren't in negative equity, so can they sell the house and move to a cheaper one? An extra bedroom is nice, but if you can't afford it, you can't afford it.

How many children and how old? If the oldest has points for college, and wants to go, s/he can take a year out and work to raise the money for this (I'm assuming it is too late to get a job and raise the money now). Ideally they wouldn't have to do this, but times have changed, and many people I know who have done something like this (for example, getting a job and studying at night) have ended up with a better education and a more realistic view of the world than people who sailed through school and college with no money worries.
 
Shivvers said:
so... their net income is about €4,200 a month. The mortgage is €1,400. Health insurance is a whopping €300. They have no other debts, allegedly.

That still leaves a very comfortable €2,500 a month to pay all bills, food etc. That's easy peasy stuff....... They must have huge debts they didn't tell the Irish Times about. There is no other way.
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Don't forget the extra €500 per month for unsociable hours which is "not featured in the payslip"
 
His utility bills are deducted at source by the CU budget scheme so that could mean all his bills (car tax everything) is paid before the net amount she gets.

I would also specualte that there is a CU payment deducted at source but if so this should have been disclosed
 
She can't afford to go to the doctor despite paying so much for health insurance? From my knowledge of the Garda health insurance is has excellent GP cover.
 
It doesn't add up. School fees or hidden debts are the only other major costs I can think of that aren't covered.
 
Does Kathy Sheridan not have access to a calculator?

They're paying €4k a year on health insurance whilst having cornflake days? Utter madness.

They're spending €10k a year on "bills" paid through their Credit Union, do they have the heating on 24/7? Utter madness.

There's either something very pertinent not included here or the article is full of inaccuracies, or both. Perhaps school fees are included there but I can't think of what else.
 
"Some years ago, they prudently joined the Garda credit union’s billpay scheme by which all their bills – including the mortgage – were calculated on a budget plan, and €528 a week deducted at source to pay them (identified as “St Raph BV” on the payslip)."

That's 2288 pm or 27,456 pa on all bills incl mortgage.

Taking off 1400 pm for the mortgage, leaves us with:

So 888 pm on "all their bills", 10,656 pa, or 205 per week.

My bills are:

Health ins = 143 pm
Car + house ins = 75 pm
Telecom + BB = 48 pm
Mobile = 40 pm
Elec = 45-50 pm

That's 356 per month

My other bills are 140 per month:
Oil = 800-900 pa
MPP = 100 pa
Life ins = 520 pa
TV licence = 160 pa

I'm now at 496 pm.

How can they be paying 888 pm???
 
There are also some issues of expectations vs. reality I think. In the more detailed article linked she talks about needing €100 for a dishwasher repair. While most people these days seem to think a dishwasher is a necessity, it's not really. Wash the dishes by hand - isn't washing-up liquid cheaper than dishwasher tablets anyway (don't have a dishwasher so can't judge this one). It's only a small thing but there are presumably other similar aspects of life that could be looked at. She should come on here and do the money makeover - I bet AAM could find ways to make her money go further.

I do accept the point that people are stuck in difficult situations but at some point people do need to start being more realistic about what a necessity and what a luxury is.

Mind you, I can also think of healthier things to serve up than cornflakes but for the same price.
 
I can only imagine that this is being 'bigged up' in anticipation of the budget - and to try to drum up some noise to ward off any moves against public sector pay, allowances, etc.
 
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