“How will we cope?”

Imogen Bertin lives with her partner of 25 years. Despite not having a mortgage, she currently works three jobs just to make ends meet. She says her income varies from year to year – ranging from about €45,000 to €20,000 – depending on employment.

I support my partner who works as a technician in live theatre and is paid far less than me. We don’t have any children, and we own our own house and live in a remote area so we receive almost no government services. I had to sell the employee shares I earned when I worked at Apple this year to make ends meet.

Imogen says that both she and her partner have almost used up all of their savings and are worried about the future.

I’m very annoyed that self employed PRSI is going up especially as if I have to go completely self employed again I will have no rights to any benefits. The pensions changes don’t make any difference to me as I won’t be able to afford to add to my pensions in the foreseeable future.

How will we cope? I will be cancelling my Eircom landline and commuting by motorbike when weather allows next year, if I can find any work. I will have to sell the other shares I have… I will have to stop taking the pain medication I use if I am not working as I won’t be able to afford it even with the drug subsidy scheme. Combined with the new levy it looks like it means it is not worth earning more than €16,000… So overall I think it’s a budget which is a disincentive to those of us with skills and determination to innovate our way out of the recession.

Read how a person living alone and depending on disability allowance feels about the budget >