Government ‘robbing poor to protect the rich’

THE fallout from the budget continued last night with the Government being accused of robbing the poor to protect the rich and those who had caused Ireland’s problems with their reckless gambling with banks.

An assessment by a leading pressure group for the marginalised claimed the working poor and unemployed would be pushed further into poverty as a result of events in which they had no hand or part.

Social Justice Irelandargued that measures like welfare cuts, a drop in minimum pay and the new universal social charge would drive up emigration and would depress Ireland’s growth rate.