Plan 'contains nothing of substance to increase jobs'

REACTION:THE GOVERNMENT'S four-year plan will result in cuts in social welfare payments of up to €62 a week for single people, Social Justice Ireland (SJI) has claimed.

Social welfare rates for a married couple could fall by up to €99 a week by 2014 if the projected €3 billion in cuts are implemented, the organisation said.

In an analysis of the Government’s National Plan for Recovery, SJI said the suggestions for achieving savings in the welfare budget were not credible. It also criticised the plan for containing “nothing of substance” to increase jobs.

“The reality is that there will be no large reduction in unemployment unless there is a very high level of emigration. Is encouraging emigration the key to the Government’s strategy to reduce the welfare bill?” asked SJI director, Fr Seán Healy.

He claimed the proposed cuts would see social welfare payments cut by €40 a week for a single person and €64 for a couple between now and 2014, provided the reduction was spread across all welfare recipients.

If, however, pensions were ring-fenced against cuts and the reductions were imposed on other payments, the result would be a reduction of €62 a week for single people and €99 for a couple, Mr Healy said.

Describing the proposals as outrageous and unjust, he said it would be possible to raise Ireland’s total tax-take by € 10 billion and still remain a low-tax country. “Instead government proposes to target the poor, the sick and the low-paid while protecting the rich and the strong, eg bondholders and the corporate sector.” Cuts in minimum wage and welfare payments “clearly demonstrates that it is the poorest in society who are to bear the brunt of cuts”, Mike Allen of Focus Ireland said.

“This will have consequences for everyone in society as these cuts will deflate the economy and increase inequality in our society.”