Madam, – The OECD suggestion of penalising those on unemployment benefit who fail to find work is an insult to the people of Ireland. Only a couple of years ago, in the boom years when jobs were readily available, we had almost full employment in this country. The number of unemployed who did not find work was very small and many of those were people such as carers and invalids who simply could not take any of the jobs on offer. So the actual number of undeserving “idlers” or “scroungers” was only a tiny percentage – doing almost negligible damage to the economy.
Today, the jobs are not available and approximately one quarter of all households are living in some degree of poverty. The people who have caused this situation are the ones who ought to be penalised. Burn the bond-holders (they are gamblers who can expect to lose heavily once in a while), shake up Nama and get the banks back in working order to allow lending to small and medium enterprises. Tax the very wealthy and invest the proceeds in community projects – especially those involved in local food initiatives, biomass, traditional skills, etc, and invest in improved education and health services.
This will create many thousands of jobs and worthwhile training opportunities that the vast majority of those currently unemployed will gladly take up. It will also reduce imports, thus helping the economy to grow in a sustainable way and it will benefit the whole of society (including those who paid for it). – Yours, etc,