Austerity bites - Recession on brink of depression

It is all very well for the Taoiseach to declare — as he did on RTÉ radio yesterday — that next month’s budget will be the last of the “really tough ones”.

For those most affected by the Government’s austerity regime, it may be more than they can bear.

It will certainly not be good news for the poor, the old, the unemployed and the vulnerable. Whether the budget cut amounts to €3.1bn or €2.8bn may be immaterial to those who are already struggling to keep body and soul together.

After all, figures — like statistics — reveal only part of the picture and can often obscure harsh realities. For instance, Ireland’s unemployment rate stands at 13.4% but to the person without a job it is 100%.

The cumulative impact of a succession of austerity budgets is taking a particularly heavy toll on older people who are being forced to take drastic measures to make ends meet. And, unlike younger people, they do not have the option of emigration.

According to Age Action spokesman Eamon Timmins, personal austerity measures range from elderly people going to bed at 7pm to keep warm because they cannot afford to heat their homes, to those choosing between food and fuel; older people who can no long afford to keep their pet, and an increasing number who are no longer meeting friends because they don’t have the price of a cup of tea in a café.

Surely, after perhaps 40 years of paying taxes, an older person should be entitled to a cuppa with a friend? Not according to our austerity regime.

That is the social dimension to austerity. There are also huge health implications as Pfizer’s annual Health Index of the Irish population reveals.

Ninety per cent of those surveyed said that depression, anxiety and mental health issues have increased since the recession.

More than one third revealed that financial strain and unemployment has caused divisions in the family, led to physical illnesses and about a quarter said it caused relationship or marital difficulties.

Equally troubling, the survey reveals that almost one million people, or 27% of the population, have neither health insurance nor medical card; the highest figure ever. Why? They simply cannot afford it and the Government’s compliant approach to and appeasement of our troika masters is making things worse.

Austerity has also brought increasing hardship to Ireland’s lower paid workers, particularly those engaged in “precarious work” with no certainty about working hours or income. Around a third are finding it difficult to adequately feed and clothe their families, and to pay off household loans.

According to a survey by the trade union Mandate, poverty among those in work is increasing, with typical wages in the retail sector inadequate to meet the basic needs of many households.

Politicians ignore the social implications of austerity at their peril. Who will bail out those who bailed out the banks?

Will this be Enda Kenny’s legacy — best boy in the austerity class, but the man who turned a recession into a depression?

Let us hope not.