Bord Snip showed no social conscience

THE Bord Snip report showed no trace of a social conscience when it targeted €1.8bn in welfare cuts. There are more than 410,000 people unemployed and it’s feared the figure could reach 500,000 over the course of next year.

This year alone families on welfare have lost the Christmas bonus, the free schoolbooks scheme and now they may be asked to take a further 5% cut due to falling food and energy costs.

They are to lose the dental, optical and hearing free benefits of the medical card while having to pay a €5 charge for medical card prescriptions.