Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is a belief among people who are generally better off and have never found it necessary to depend on the social welfare system that those who depend on that system are somehow being dishonest and lazy and leeching off the system. In their minds, what we need to do is toughen up such people by giving them a hard time and they will then return to work. While this view is not stated explicitly, I believe it is held by certain members of the Fine Gael Party. However, a cursory examination of the past 25 years will show that it is utter nonsense.

In the 1980s, the head of the Central Bank made a disgraceful statement about spongers on the dole. I recall that his remarks caused outrage and led to protests and so forth. At that time, he could try to make that argument because, as Deputies will recall, the 1980s were characterised by mass, long-term unemployment. This lie should have been completely nailed, however, when the economy took off and employment became available because people took jobs and unemployment declined to negligible levels. There is always some unemployment as people need to move between jobs and graduates emerge from college seeking employment. There is also a tiny number of people, usually consisting of families with deep problems who have been damaged by one or other circumstance, who may be long-term dependants on the social welfare system. The idea that a majority of people would want to live on the miserable amount of money paid under the social welfare system, with the lack of dignity and so on that this entails, is nonsense. Nevertheless, a significant section of the Fine Gael Party believes this nonsense. They should ask why, if that is the case, everybody took jobs when they were available.

A friend of mine, a skilled tradesman who lost his business in the recession, has been applying for five or six jobs virtually every week. He informed me that when we went for a job in a warehouse in Sandyford recently, he found that 2,500 others had also applied for it. It is not the case that people are not seeking work. The Government is failing to provide employment and is punishing people for losing their jobs and being unable to find another one.

Having picked on everyone else, why should the Government not pick on 65 year olds? It attacked the transition pension and will no doubt tell us the purpose of the measure is to rectify an anomaly. It is notable, however, that all such rectification involves measures with downward rather than upward realignment.

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