Irish salaries are the highest in the Euro area. And before you mention the cost of living, it’s now cheaper than it was 3 years ago. The problem is the huge expectations of people.

I agree on the salaries, they are too high and together with the dole keep the cost of living high.

I haven’t noticed how it’s cheaper to live in Ireland though: food just as overpriced as before, taxes higher, petrol pricier, rent just as high as in 2008, mostly due to being widely subsidized with rent allowance.

Rubbish..you quote implies that the 450’00- plus on the dole are there by choice. Michael Taft sad that for every 50 on the dole there’s one 1 job! In 06’07 there were 90’000 plus on the dole. After ’08 till now that has jumped to 450’000 +. Are you saying that they all decide to go on the dole cause it “pays” well?
And for those that gave the thumbs up.
Mark Twain : It Is Easier To Fool People Than To Convince People That They Have Been Fooled.

Why aren’t there jobs out there? Plenty of businesses would hire but they can’t afford hires at the high cost set by overly optimistic minimum wage and a dole twice as high as average salaries in some EU countries.

People on the dole on the other hand, have no incentive to look for work. From talks with unemployed people I had, they don’t really have to look for work, just once a year provide a few phone numbers of prospective employers they called. Depending how you look at it, they are getting paid not to work.

The system is wrong. Paying people for not working is unfair for both those who do work and pay taxes but also demoralizing for those who receive it.

I am not proposing an easy solution, just pointing out the absurdity of current setup.

@Fiona . That term ” there are no jobs out their” is subjective. There is jobs if you are willing to give up the benefits for low paying jobs as that’s all that out there. There are so many people genuinely unemployed and in a finacial trap , with a mortgage etc , wherby they need x amount of money to get by and most available jobs won’t pay the x amount but the dole will , along with allowances and mortgage subsidy . Break down the unemployment list and you will see that 70,000 are under 25 and have not worked since they left collage , 80,000 foreign nationals who unfourtunitly have not been here too long before they found themselves unemployed , 68,000 have been out of work since before the Celtic tiger , when the world and his mother was working . So really what does that leave ? We need government policy to focus on helping small to medium business with an incentive to rehire people. Possible a reduction in tax or prsi for a two year period , to make it worth a person while returning to the work place.

As for your defence of single mums , there are many single mums struggle to keep their children in today’s expensive world of education , food and activities but to be fair there are many people in this country bleeding the system and some single mums have added to that problem. There are women that have no intention of working and are happy to have a few kids without finacila planning or support as they know the state will pick up the tab. I spoke to a woman on air recently that had 5 kids for three fathers , none of which was paying a cent in maintenance and none of whom were on the kids birth certificate. She got pregnant again because by her own admission she knew the council would give her a bigger house.

I’m not suggesting for a minute all single mums are the same but unfourtunitly the likes of the above and the thousands that cohabittate with working fathers , give the rest a bad name .
I have a friend and she is a single mum and she works her ass off even though she told me she would be better off on benefit but she says she has pride in what she does and she brought her son into the world and it’s up to her to support him. The help is their finically in the state to provide for anybody that falls on hard times but it’s not a bottomless charity Pit.

Leaving aside the accidental pregnancy ( although really in this day and age that’s bizzare) any woman , family should be in a finacial position to support a child before they actually have one .

So the problem is with the people who work. Tim this is getting repetitive and boring. I’m confused by your arguments, tax the rich, your normal cry, then reduce the wages because we earn to much, thus reducing the tax take, therefore less money for dole recipients, but you want to maintain the level of social welfare payments.

Oh wait a minute, you want collectivisation, five year plans and the return of Stalin.
I finally get it.

Friedman is the one behind the rotten ideology that got us into the mess we are in. A neo-liberal sociopath whose policies have had disastrous consequences for the majority of this world. Why anyone would think differently in this day and age is beyond me. More Keynes less Friedman please!

Hi Paul, thats pretty tough, keep your chin up, good luck

I’m healthy alive so is wife and kids I know it’s a saying used too often nowadays but it’s true health is your wealth……hopefully I’ll get back in fulltime employment after internship,we used to work 16/18 hours a day six days a week,and yea would miss that when all of a sudden it’s gone……

Paul,
Fair play to you and well said. Your commonsense and positive attitude will see you through I’m sure. Best of luck to you.

Paul, best wishes chief!

You have my sympathy. I have also retained after closing my business. An honest recruiter told me that every position he placed in the last 2 years was in foreign multi-nationals and they only want candidates with 3-5 years experience. After 18 months searching in Ireland, without so much as an interview I am resigned to joining my brother in UK. After 2 weeks of starting to look I have been submitted for 4 good jobs and have interviews next week.
These are not easy decisions, but the longer I search in Ireland the more I become convinced there is not future here.
Then again maybe I am not looking hard enough, I have yet to take out a city center billboard advertising myself.

That’s tough Paul. Hope it gets better for you man :-)

Believe you me, you arent any better off financially if you’re in social housing. I am and come Tuesday afternoon I have no cash till I collect my money on Thursdays. I dont go out or spend money on drink or buy new clothes. My brother is a long distance truck driver and he goes to the continent once a month and I give him 12 euros to get me two 50 grm pouches of Golden Virginia in France which lasts me the month so it works out at 3 euros a week for tobacco. It would cost me 8 euros here for a 12oz pouch that would last me 3 or 4 days.

I think requiring people to do public work for the dole would help weed out those who just want to slack about.

People could sweep streets or clean the shores from litter, whatever.

Single mums on welfare, for instance, could be running daycare at their homes for 3-4 kids of mums who do want to work.

ah feeds..you have to be a troll…

Was wondering how long it would take before the single mums were singled out..

And also Feeds, your implication that the single mother who looks after the children is that she, herself, does not want to work? Or am I reading that wrong?

In any case, in order for you to look after children you must be a registered childcare worker. And must hold the relevant qualifications. Which is why the childcare system in this country is so expensive. You cannot look after children in your own home anymore. If you do, and are reported, you are in fact breaking the law. As you are looking after children without the relevant qualifications, without the insurance and without paying the relevant tax to the Government.

The fact is, there are just no jobs out there. Absolutely none. Ratio figures show that there is one job for every 28 or so people. What do the other 27 do? Also your suggestion that people should sweep the streets for their dole. What about the council workers who are paid well for that job? Should they give up that job and sweep the streets for €188? Or should the people on the dole just do it and put him out of a job? The vast majority of the 450,000 people are not on the dole through choice. Far from it.

Niall Its unfair to pick on single mums. You have a good job with easy money for talking into a mic No special talent needed just know the right people. But we are not all as lucky as you.

Well said Fiona.

Feel sorry for Paul v difficult when you want to work . Hope things improve !

how do you evaluate a contribution. prior to establishing my own business I worked in the merchant navy, I was a non- resident with no tax liability, however I spent all my foreign earned income in the Irish economy thus effectively importing over 300,000 into the Irish economy over 10 years. Or I could have been a public servant and my salary and taxes being paid out of the money brought into the Irish economy by exporters and money importers. Now don’t think I am public service bashing either, they are a very necessary and valuable component of our economy. But blanket comments like yours are far to simplistic and short- sighted. The level of taxes contributed may not be a real indication of actual benefit to the economy.

additionally the contribution of many tax payers, particularly many public servants may be far in excess of just the taxes they pay.

My mother worked all her life and died 6 weeks before her 66th birthday. The thoughts of getting her old age pension after working all her life, kept her battling but sadly it wasnt to be.

was there 450’000 job’s being advertised ?

I walked past another window and there was one for €100k but unfortunately I’m not a doctor so what’s your point?

Sinead

Most of the jobs avertised are for people with third level qualifications

I see jobs advertised on restaurant windows all the time. Also… how come non-EU immigrants who don’t get welfare, e.g. Brazilians or Chinese don’t have problem finding work?

have you ever seen an estate agents window with no houses. of course a recruiter had jobs in the window, otherwise it’s just a weirdo with a desk.
Any honest recruiter will tell you most of those jobs don’t exist, but they need to keep getting C.V’s.

Wait for what?

Feeds, the fact that you think women out there are becoming single mums just to secure their welfare is mind boggling. The incentive for single mothers to go out to work has been slashed by Joan Burton in her implementation of section 4 of the social welfare bill recently. The fact that she has changed the bill so that mothers of children as young as 7 no longer have access to the one parent family payment and must go on jobseekers allowance instead forces these mothers not to take up work as who will look after her 7 year old? She must be available for work in order to qualify for jobseekers so what do you suggest there? Get a job and have her 7 year old home alone from 3 pm every day? Or pay a registered childminder mon – fri for the few hours until she gets home. Thereby putting herself in more poverty. The choices are stark for single parents who want to work. The cost of childcare takes up to 40% of a couples income. For a single parent who wants to work that is a hell of a chunk out of her wages. Childcare is the key here, it must be subsidised. And in all honesty feeds, there are a hell of a lot more people out there ripping you off in your taxes, bankers, bondholders, politicians themselves. Yet its the social welfare recipient who has his/her hand in your pocket? Wake up and smell the squander of your taxes. It’s not the single parent trying to feed her kids, nor is it the man who is trying to keep a roof over his head. It is the Government themselves. And they are neck deep in the trough each and every one.

I am not saying they consciously become single mums to secure their welfare. I am saying, that as long as they stay single mums their welfare is secured, this is mind-boggling to me. The financial incentive is there for them not to try and build a family with a partner. This is… a system borne out of compassion doing a very bad job and pushing people in wrong directions. “Move in with the dad and you lose the money”.

The cost of childcare in this country is ridiculous indeed. A female colleague at work came to visit with a 2 year old and newborn twins. She said she couldn’t afford to go back to work. Isn’t this absurd?

Subsidising isn’t the answer in my opinion, neither for bankers, businesses nor unemployed or childcare. It is never fair. I’d rather suggest removing obstacles that make childcare so expensive.

@ Fiona – taking some ideas from the comments above and elsewhere:

1. Lower cost of child care by changing CA from a cash payment to a child care services voucher system.

2. New legislation forcing fathers to have a more active role in the lives of their children. Believe it or not,any fathers would be very happy for their parental role to be more than providing a fixed level of financial support. Many fathers spend large sums of money on legal actions to gain tactless to their kids. That money could be spent directly on the children, not on legal costs. Fathers should and often are willing to be carets for their children.

3. Incentives should be offered to employers so they can offer a more parent-friendly work environment.

4. Mothers should be prepared to retrain and accept that their earning potential is less than before, both because the flexibility offered by the workplace to mothers must swing both ways, and that, generally, salary and benefits must be lowered by all, including mothers, in order for the country to become sustainable.

And now come the vitriol..

The changes Joan Burton has made have made it now longer a “secure” payment as you call it. She is not giving single parents the opportunities to return to work. She is forcing them into more poverty as they must now be available for work, yet cannot afford the childcare that goes with it.

The childcare issue is one that will rage on for parents, single or not. After your mortgage it is the second highest bill in any household. It needs to be addressed but I don’t know how the obstacles can be moved rather than take away the need to be registered. But that is enshrined now so I doubt there is any way out of that one.

The single parent payment is 217.80 per week. It’s not an amount any person would actively sit at home for but the trap is set. Even the encouragement for people to get back into education does not help the single parent as all the courses are full time. Which incurs childcare costs. Which are not helped with. It’s a vicious circle but the majority of single parents do not want to be on welfare. As do the majority of people who are on jobseekers at the minute. Until jobs become available we are caught in this trap of pointing the finger at people who are on the dole through no fault of their own and accusing them of taking taxes. They lost their jobs though. Ask any one of those 400,000 people and they will tell you they didn’t actively choose this. The blame lies somewhere and I know whose door I lay that one firmly at.

@karswell – I agree, there are many ways for changes to be made to offer more support for people trying to get back to work re childcare. Millionaires in this country get childrens allowance. Politicians, bankers, fat cats et al. That to me is wrong. It should be means tested. That would be a huge saving in itself. Sadly, what seems to be happening is that the government are hell bent on cutting expenditure, cutting CS schemes, lowering the rent allowance cap, etc and making it extremely hard for struggling people, and in some cases making people less well off if they work and are not offering any alternative. The supports should be in place to assist as much as possible to get people back to work. But all they seem to be doing is making the cuts to keep the Troika happy and not assisting or offering any alternative to people who are suffering more because of these cuts. I mean to say to a single parent, for example, we have to take you off your one parent family payment and put you on jobseekers yet will offer you no help in assisting you find work or help with your childcare costs for your 7 year old makes no sense to me. It just enshrines the poverty trap for that person even more.

Stop having more babbies! 2 is enough!

@ Fiona – we need to get away from this vision of a one parent family. Both parents should take responsibility, both parents should share the costs of raising a child. But this also means that both parents should have the right of care for the children. Support for working mothers shouldn’t be seen as a separate issue than equal rifts and responsibilities for fathers. There may be many reflect full fathers out there, but there are also many fathers who want to play and active role in their children’s lives, but the current system is weighted against that. I’m not saying that a single mother would choose to stay at home rather than work, and that fathers choose to abandon their children, but the current system funnels people into this situation. It wouldn’t be an easy path, but separated parents does not automatically mean a single parent family. Time for a better model to aim for.

And the problem has come to its full circle. In the 70s women who worked and had to give it up when they had children were not allowed to collect the dole regardless of wether they had been paying stamp for years because they were not considered available to work. They changed the rules without putting in place an adequate system to enable women return to the workforce, while having their children cared for. It only took one generation for the whole mess to blow up.

Incentives not to work have bog all to do with the lack of work in a recession. That’s an idiotic monetarist position. To see this do a simple thought experiment. A company which used to hire 20 people to do work quantity X, now needs 10 people to do work X. Demand has dropped off. So the owner has made 10 people redundant. Let’s now pretend that wages are halfed. He can clearly hire 20 people but he won’t because he just needs 10. Not until work goes back to X will he hire 20 people. The problem is demand side, as he needs to get more orders to hire more people. The key is to increase demand, the solution is not austerity but the opposite.

The second X should be X / 2 in that response.

They don’t get cars anymore…

Anal…this is the real elephant in the room …the amount of money spent on so called Social Protection…it reflects one of the highest expenditures per capita in the world at a time when we are insolvent as a Nation. Be careful with your rather uneducated tongue or you might draw attention to the unsustainable nature of that spend no matter what the Minister is paid!

Touché this lovely island is rich in food, fish, oil, gas, trees, and water. We are far from insolvent just very very badly managed wake up!!

Great, that’s 50 people of the dole..444’950 to go then.

50 is better than 0. If qualifications are lacking, retrain. Many do. I did.

Andrew with negativity like your yours , who needs Enda kenny !!

they tooooooooooooook areeeee jobsssssss

they’re smacking their lips reading these figures and doing their sums thats what!

Agreed. Her performance on primetime during the referendum was one of the most shameful things i have even seen. My Dad, a lifelong trade unionist and labour voter, was inconsolable.