Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is a mandate for injustice against social minorities. The scandal of the Roma children removed from their homes occurred because of the stereotyping that is done by the establishment in this society. This Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition, and the Minister, Deputy Burton, have consistently reinforced another bigoted, ignorant and cynical stereotype in regard to social welfare recipients, unemployed people and, especially, the youth to the effect that they are lazy and feckless shysters. The reality is that in August 2013, 32 people were unemployed for each notified vacancy. The outrageous slander against the young unemployed is used to justify savage cuts to the jobseekers' benefit, continue the disastrous austerity agenda and save the financial market system of Europe by saving the banks and bondholders from the fruits of their reckless speculation in the Irish property bubble.

In the 1979-83 Tory Government in Britain, a certain employment Minister called Norman Tebbit - now Baron Tebbit - advised the growing army of unemployed victims of Thatcherism to do as his father allegedly did in the 1930s, and get on their bikes and stay on their bikes until they found a job. In this Government's disgraceful attacks on the young unemployed, the Minister for Social Protection is rapidly emerging as the Baroness Tebbit of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government.

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