Sir, - It is ironic that when this country is so prosperous, when there is a large Exchequer surplus, most people will be poorer at the end of the year than at the beginning. Inflation has eaten up all pay gains under the PPF and all social welfare increases are more than cancelled.
I personally know a poor widow who got a pension rise of £4 a week on May 4th, raising her total weekly income from £73.50 to £77.50. This is her sole income as, through life circumstances, she had no previous "nest-egg" on which to fall back. The £4 rise is all eaten up and she is probably poorer by £5 or £6 a week because of the recent rise in the prices of necessities such as milk, bread, butter, meat, a bit of fruit. This lady has to do without some basic things in life.
I know of no effective way of highlighting her plight apart from writing to your paper about it. The matter upsets me. If there is a surplus in the Exchequer, would the relevant Ministers sit down and ponder who is morally entitled to it. If I were the Minister for Social Welfare I would lobby the other members of the Government to give a basic £100 a week to people like this widow and spare them the embarrassment of writing out a "cheap" shopping list every Friday in case they overspend. I believe that the virtue of justice is being violated here.
I appeal to the Ministers for Finance and Social Welfare to pause and consider what their policies are doing to poor people who have worked hard all their lives and are now left almost destitute. In God's name, give priority as soon as possible to these poor and voiceless people. - Yours, etc.,
Fr Pat Griffin, PP, The Presbytery, Waterville, Co Kerry.