Brendan Burgess
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OPINION : It’s time to reassess the unemployment crisis and the balance between work and welfare
JOAN BURTON’S recent comment that social welfare is a “lifestyle choice” for some people, and her warning that those refusing to take up training or employment opportunities could face welfare cuts, drew the predictable hostile response from predictable quarters. But little else. It was a brave stance for a Labour Party Minister, and one that challenges the prevailing national narrative about unemployment.
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But is the jobs market really as grim and bleak as these headline figures suggest?
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Is it not surprising there continue to be so many foreign nationals working in hotels, restaurants, high street stores, supermarkets, corner shops and garage forecourt outlets? I have nothing against these people (quite the contrary), but why are more and more of these jobs not now being appropriated by Irish nationals?
...But with the Government investing so much in reviving and expanding the retail and hospitality sectors, from raiding private sector pension funds to cutting VAT and reforming antiquated workplace regulations, it is important to ask if an expansion in the jobs market will lead to a reduction of tens of thousands on the Live Register, and a consequent reduction in the State’s social welfare bill, or simply an expansion in the number of overseas workers.
Does Mr Byrne believe that we should just sack the foreign nationals who hold the jobs in hotels, restaurants, corner shops etc and employ Irish people in those same jobs to solve the jobs crisis?
That suggests that Irish people would take those jobs.
I suggest that many people (I said many , not all) would not.
That suggests that Irish people would take those jobs.
I suggest that many people (I said many , not all) would not.
Because when rent supplement and a medical card are taken into account, they are better off on the dole,
Do you mean 'welfare rates' or 'welfare system'? If you're going to compare against UK or NI rates, then compare the cost of living in UK/NI, the supports available through the NHS, the free school books and (in some areas) free school meals etc. Please don't pick and choose which bits of the system you compare.If welfare rates were brought into line with Northern Ireland or the UK, a lot of Irish people would lose their work-shyness pretty sharply.
If welfare rates were brought into line with Northern Ireland or the UK, a lot of Irish people would lose their work-shyness pretty sharply.
Brendan
And that is why we should have a graded system, where those who paid decent levels of tax for a number of years get higher payments to start off with. And those who have never paid tax get lower payments.Most of the people on the dole now probably paid decent levels of tax for a number of years
Hear hearThe 'available to everyone' one should be cut, and benefits should be issued in the form of vouchers. If we're giving people money for food and essentials then that's what they should be spending it on.
The 'funded by your tax' one should be updated. I wouldn't mind a system where someone is on 70% of wages for 6 months, then 45% for 6 months,.. then reduced to the standard rates.
Do you mean 'welfare rates' or 'welfare system'? If you're going to compare against UK or NI rates, then compare the cost of living in UK/NI, the supports available through the NHS, the free school books and (in some areas) free school meals etc. Please don't pick and choose which bits of the system you compare.
And that is why we should have a graded system, where those who paid decent levels of tax for a number of years get higher payments to start off with. And those who have never paid tax get lower payments.
And that is why we should have a graded system, where those who paid decent levels of tax for a number of years get higher payments to start off with. And those who have never paid tax get lower payments.
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