Comments on: New Statesman article on Ireland and FF http://thestory.ie/2010/01/12/new-statesman-article-on-ireland-and-ff/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:01:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: AK http://thestory.ie/2010/01/12/new-statesman-article-on-ireland-and-ff/comment-page-1/#comment-1701 AK Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:35:41 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=894#comment-1701 I know I will probably be in the minority, but I personally believe that cutting welfare rates across the board, rather than tackling the inefficiencies in the system was a huge mistake. I thing we can all agree that most of the S.W vote will be spent on basic everyday things, same as any other sector, and yes I know that some people may know someone who may choose to spend their SW payments on alternative pursuits, but by and large a great percentage of this 21bn euro will be spent wisely. If there are some people abusing the system then it is the job of government to have enough checks and balances in place to catch and severely punish those people. Cutting the allowance of compliant beneficiaries, without fixing the problem is an amateur response to a serious problem. For a lot of SW recipients, the reduction of 6% in 9 Months, will mean the difference between having life assurance, and not having it, and/or having house contents insurance, or not. It will also mean buying cheaper non Irish food, in non Irish supermarkets, in order to make up the difference. What will, spending the bulk of 21bn euro, on non irish goods, in foreign multi national supermarkets do for Irish jobs, or for the national coffers.? There is also data to show that people who have a lower income threshold, whether they in employment or not, do not benefit as much from selective reductioins in supermarkets, ( which is what they are ) as those who can afford to purchase the top brands. I know I will probably be in the minority, but I personally believe that cutting welfare rates across the board, rather than tackling the inefficiencies in the system was a huge mistake.

I thing we can all agree that most of the S.W vote will be spent on basic everyday things, same as any other sector, and yes I know that some people may know someone who may choose to spend their SW payments on alternative pursuits, but by and large a great percentage of this 21bn euro will be spent wisely.

If there are some people abusing the system then it is the job of government to have enough checks and balances in place to catch and severely punish those people.

Cutting the allowance of compliant beneficiaries, without fixing the problem is an amateur response to a serious problem.

For a lot of SW recipients, the reduction of 6% in 9 Months, will mean the difference between having life assurance, and not having it, and/or having house contents insurance, or not.

It will also mean buying cheaper non Irish food, in non Irish supermarkets, in order to make up the difference.
What will, spending the bulk of 21bn euro, on non irish goods, in foreign multi national supermarkets do for Irish jobs, or for the national coffers.?

There is also data to show that people who have a lower income threshold, whether they in employment or not, do not benefit as much from selective reductioins in supermarkets, ( which is what they are ) as those who can afford to purchase the top brands.

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