Sir, - There is something about Ogra Fianna Fail's letter about social welfare fraud (September 27th) which is extremely annoying. First the writer expresses his "deep frustration - if not complete surprise - that we learn about the apparent deluge of social welfare fraud". The subtext here, of course, is: had only Charley, Albert and the rest known that such a thing as "welfare fraud" (God bless the mark!) existed in Ireland, they would have dealt with the situation when in power. The reality is that the dogs in the street knew that "working and signing" was not exactly as rare as hen's teeth.
Next, we have the division of the unemployed into pitiable hard cases whose "weekly benefits are the only thing that keeps them marginally above the poverty line". Nobody on benefit is - "above the poverty line" - marginally or otherwise. The writer goes on to condemn the "welfare cheats" who consume "scarce funds". He does not seem to realise that people who work and sign are only half of the equation - they are all working for somebody. But we do not expect FF to be able to see the fact that employers who employ people who are signing are equally, if not more than, culpable as the actual "welfare cheats".
Not only are they exploiting the pool of cheap labour created by mass unemployment. The fact that they are able to pay wages in cash - presumably without having to account for either where this money is coming from or is going to - makes this writer suspect that, just possibly, these employers are not paying all the income tax which they should be paying.
Wages in the black economy are low, not enough to live on without a social welfare "supplement"; pension plans are not all that might be desired; and if you have an accident at work it's a lift to the hospital and a hundred quid to keep quiet. Yet FF cannot see this. The sting in the letter is in the tail: "This debacle will not stop Mr De Rossa approaching his Cabinet colleagues to advance the welfare state further in the next Budget". Where did all the FF concern about the poor people on welfare suddenly disappear to? - Yours, etc,
Wexford.