ESRI report an attempt to validate attacks on welfare recipients

The furore around the recent ESRI paper that suggested that some 44% of workers would be better off on the dole, overlooked one thing: this report may in fact be nothing other than an attempt to validate the persistent attacks on those unfortunate enough to have to depend on welfare — most probably to justify further cuts in such supports, as opposed to taxing high end incomes to close the gap between revenue and spending, in the upcoming budget.

Hot on the heels of this report we had the views of Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar lamenting the fact that the Government cannot ‘squeeze’ more people out of employment, and calling for changes in the Croke Park Agreement to change that.

It would appear that this Government sees no value in keeping people in jobs on the one hand, and then facilitates the vilification of the unemployed via a State funded quango on the other.