‘Workfare’ – the best way to hide jobless figures

IT seems Social Protection Minister Eamon O Cuiv and the Green Party have finally discovered the long sought-after panacea for unemployment – force people to work for their social welfare payment.

In reality what they are saying is let’s return to the days of the famine roads and cutting nettles, digging ditches, etc. There has been a great deal of spin about “fraud”, “upskilling” “smart economies” and other nonsense from Mr O Cuiv, et al, throughout the recession and prior to the announcement of this scheme.

This type of scheme has had an inglorious history. When all the nonsense is stripped away, rest assured that the aims (and the reality) of the proposed ‘workfare’ scheme will be as follows: