Ranting......
Aug. 5th, 2009 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smiley_bNo wonder Ireland is rapidly going down the tubes....
There was a 2 page article in yesterday's Irish Daily Mail, about a family of eight (dad, mum, 6 kids) living down in Limerick who are getting €3800 a month in state benefits and say that it's not enough for them to live on. (For those of you in the UK, that's £3,221.81 per month, and for those in the US it's $5,473.88 at today's exchange rates).
Highlights from the article:
The tears fall down Danielle Harte's face as she sits opposite her 50in Plasma TV screen. 'Sometimes I think I was put on this earth to suffer,' she says, her husband Ger nodding quietly in agreement.
To most it might seem as if Ger, 33, and Danielle, 31, have done a pretty good job. After all, they and their six children live in an eight-bedroom, €440,000 detached house in picturesque Ardnacrusha, Co. Clare. Not bad for a couple living entirely on welfare.
Danielle has never worked outside the home. Ger gave up his €420-a-week job in a cash and carry more than four years ago, because he figured he'd get more money in welfare benefits. He was right. Every month they take home approximately €3,800, courtesy of the taxpayer.
'We get €480 a week in dole for the eight of us; about €800 a month in rent allowance, and then child benefit of €1,144. That's what we have to live on,' Danielle complains.
Ger adds: 'I was offered a job but if I took it we wouldn't get the rent allowance, so it's not worth my while.
Even in the boom times, Danielle and Ger didn't work and they admit there is no incentive to get a job.
Bolded bits are obviously mine; the article also states that they have 4 large plasma tv's in the house, plus two laptops and two cars. In addition, they were housed in a suite in Jury's Hotel in Limerick for 3 months at one point because no suitable accomadation was available.
Entitlement much????
I think it's sickening that someone can basically give up a job to live off the state and take home more in a month than people (ie me and most of my friends) who are putting in 39 hour weeks and counting ourselves lucky to actually still have a job. This guy even says that he's been offered work, but it's not worth his while taking in as he and his family are better off claiming benefits.
What kind of example does this set to his kids???
And what kind of government sets up a system where this can happen??
Completely, utterly batshit insane.
There was a 2 page article in yesterday's Irish Daily Mail, about a family of eight (dad, mum, 6 kids) living down in Limerick who are getting €3800 a month in state benefits and say that it's not enough for them to live on. (For those of you in the UK, that's £3,221.81 per month, and for those in the US it's $5,473.88 at today's exchange rates).
Highlights from the article:
The tears fall down Danielle Harte's face as she sits opposite her 50in Plasma TV screen. 'Sometimes I think I was put on this earth to suffer,' she says, her husband Ger nodding quietly in agreement.
To most it might seem as if Ger, 33, and Danielle, 31, have done a pretty good job. After all, they and their six children live in an eight-bedroom, €440,000 detached house in picturesque Ardnacrusha, Co. Clare. Not bad for a couple living entirely on welfare.
Danielle has never worked outside the home. Ger gave up his €420-a-week job in a cash and carry more than four years ago, because he figured he'd get more money in welfare benefits. He was right. Every month they take home approximately €3,800, courtesy of the taxpayer.
'We get €480 a week in dole for the eight of us; about €800 a month in rent allowance, and then child benefit of €1,144. That's what we have to live on,' Danielle complains.
Ger adds: 'I was offered a job but if I took it we wouldn't get the rent allowance, so it's not worth my while.
Even in the boom times, Danielle and Ger didn't work and they admit there is no incentive to get a job.
Bolded bits are obviously mine; the article also states that they have 4 large plasma tv's in the house, plus two laptops and two cars. In addition, they were housed in a suite in Jury's Hotel in Limerick for 3 months at one point because no suitable accomadation was available.
Entitlement much????
I think it's sickening that someone can basically give up a job to live off the state and take home more in a month than people (ie me and most of my friends) who are putting in 39 hour weeks and counting ourselves lucky to actually still have a job. This guy even says that he's been offered work, but it's not worth his while taking in as he and his family are better off claiming benefits.
What kind of example does this set to his kids???
And what kind of government sets up a system where this can happen??
Completely, utterly batshit insane.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-05 09:29 pm (UTC)If you turn down a job you shouldn't get benefits, simple.
Ugh! This is why I don't want to work in the benefits department across the hall at work. Council Tax is bad enough but benefits?! I think I would loose my temper on a daily basis.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-05 09:52 pm (UTC)She confirmed I had, and my head just about exploded.
Seriously, I have no problem with people who are out of work claiming benefits, but this woman has never worked a day in her life, and he's turned down work which should absoutely exclude the pair of them from claiming all but the most basic benefits. I mean €3800 a month? I don't earn that!!
But it's the entitlement that gets me - they think there's nothing wrong with this, that it's their right. Sorry, but as my late Auntie Nancy used to say, the only thing you're entitled to in life is a weeks wages when you've done a weeks work. End of discussion.
Lordy, I got verbose, didn't I!!!