Article by Cork Regional President Brendan Dempsey in the Evening Echo newspaper
Two thousand years ago the Chinese had a very old proverb which said that “even the biggest feast had to end”. So it was with the “Celtic Tiger feast”! It seems that wisdom isn’t on our education curriculum nor is it a concept understood by those who slavishly followed the road of corporate greed. But the State it seems is intent on pumping billions into our banking system to shore up some of the very people who caused our problems.
Who is going to pay for this?
The rest of the population, those who lived their lives honestly, worked hard and did the best they could for their families are being made to pay. Those in need are being forced to pay. The poor will pay as far as this Government is concerned.
The State is once again going to tighten their belts for them. It is a safe bet, sound policy, after all the poor don’t usually shout too much, don’t demonstrate, don’t organise and they represent a high proportion of those who don’t vote, so they don’t count.
There are 615,000 people or 14% of the population living in poverty, 200,000 of them are children and 116,000 of them are actually working, employed. There is an even greater number of people living just above the poverty line, 25% of our people live on an income of €20,000 or less a year. Far from being protected, people on the lowest incomes are among the hardest hit by the cut-backs. In 2010 the income of an unemployed couple with two children will drop by €13.60 per week from its 2009 level. This will leave them with 8% less than or €44 per week under the poverty line. A lone parent with one child will drop by €17.70 per week, leaving them 2% or €7 per week below the State’s own poverty line.
Someone living on a blind pension will contribute another €8 per week to State funds.
We are told that State funds are being well spent. Isn’t that nice to know, to be told that those who lost billions and have been taken over by NAMA will now be paid an income by NAMA.
They won’t have to live on Social Welfare which is no bed of roses. For many who were hard-working and enterprising, for young people who have been given little chance in life as a result of the current economic problems, it is a very hard learning curve. The choice they have to make are far different from those who caused the problems and who are now being helped by NAMA and they are hard choices to make.
If they want to eat properly, pay Gas, ESB and other bills, their former way of life has gone - entertainment is finished, can’t afford a night out, to use the car, or worse, pay the mortgage. There are many who face the lose of their homes. The number of people existing on Social Welfare who didn’t have insurance to cover recent flood damage amazed me, they just couldn’t afford insurance.
The State does not protect the poor; it does not stand up to wealthy vested interests, does not control the high cost of medicine, the increased cost of education, the insurance industry, our legal system, our judicial system which is simple a revolving door. These and many other aspects of life today need a closer and hard examination.
Those charged with running the State have in some ways done well but in other ways have failed the poor miserably.
Meeting and talking to families whose lives have been devastated by this year’s flooding and who face on-going problems showed me the difficulties for some who are not yet back in their homes and have been forced to take out Credit Union or credit card loans to make up the shortfall in insurance settlements. They feel the Government has abandoned them. In referring to Government I have heard the words “gutless”, “toothless” and “useless” being used.
The Lord Mayor’s Flood Fund, of which the SVP was part, received approximately €120,000 in public support. The Society of St. Vincent De Paul has added another €100,000 and that money has been distributed to help those worse affected and we will continue to help people in whatever way we can.
This week we learned that food and drink in Ireland is the second highest in the EU. Someone is profiteering still on the backs of all of us because we must eat and drink to live. The fall in the cost of living in 2009 did not lift households in difficulties out of poverty, and cuts in wages, working hours and welfare payments pushed them deeper in.
The cuts to community organisations, health services and education impact on these families and individual, but the cuts in their incomes represent a particular and real threat to their well being. It is to fight this threat that a wide range of community organisations, charities and trade unions have come together to form the ‘The Poor Can’t Pay’.
The SVP is supporting this initiative. There has to be a counterbalance to the campaign being run by IBEC, ISME and others to lower the Minimum Wage and pay rates generally, which will cause the already low incomes of more than 600,000 people reduced. There are 615,000 people, or 14% of the population, living in poverty, according to the Central Statistics Office. Almost 200,000 of them are children. 116,000 of them are in employment. Isn’t that a great statistic for our Government and corporate Ireland to be proud of?
Our Cork Regional Office is at 2 Tuckey Street, phone (021) 427044 and we have local Conferences, the parish-based branch of the Society, ready to help anyone in need throughout the city and county.