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.

All of this seems to skirt around the reality of life in the modern world — for the vast majority, access to a liveable income can only be gained through employment. Therefore every citizen must have a right to have access to a job.

This is the perspective from which the Government, and interested think-tanks, ought to be viewing the current position rather than becoming blocklayers building defences for those with a disproportionate share of the wealth in order to assist them hang on to what they have.

The unemployed should now mount a serious campaign to vindicate their right to a decent standard of living and for a more equal share of the wealth that we have.

A good start would be for the likes of Prof. Richard Tol and Government ministers to cut in half their incomes to facilitate a more equal distribution of resources.

Failure to do so surely releases those who cannot find a job from being bound by the laws and diktats of a Government that cannot provide the most basic of needs — a job.

Jim O’Sullivan

Rathedmond

Sligo