Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Social Justice Ireland has today published a report which focuses on the number of people in the State living in poverty. It makes for startling reading and should serve as a serious wake-up call for the Government. The research shows that 780,000 people are living below the poverty line, but the figure that really jumps out from the report is that more than 100,000 of the 780,000 people have jobs but cannot earn a living wage. The reality is that this group which is perhaps best described as the barely-getting-by class has continued to grow since 2009. They are people who get out of bed early in the morning and work hard as they want to provide for their families. They have modest aspirations to have a decent life, yet they cannot plan for the future. How can they when they cannot make ends meet in the here and now? The casualisation of work, insecure employment and zero hour contracts are a real problem. Low pay, especially when taken in the context of the soaring cost of living, is also a real problem. Workers on very low wages and in insecure employment are somehow being asked to find the money to pay extortionate rent, grossly inflated insurance premiums and crushing child care costs.

Each bill that comes through their letter box lands with the weight of a sledgehammer. Many of these workers live with a constant sense of vulnerability. They fear that one unexpected occurrence, such as the car breaking down or a family member falling sick, will throw the train off the tracks and into chaos.

I know Fine Gael's mantra is that a job is the surest way to guard against poverty; certainly, it should be. However, Fine Gael says this while turning a blind eye to a recovery in which work does not pay. A job cannot be cheap labour. It must mean the cost of living and more. A job must give any worker the means not only to survive but also to thrive. Good and secure jobs would replace workers' vulnerability with confidence and certainty. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that these principles underpin our economy. The aspiration to a good life cannot be the preserve of the wealthy or the higher echelons of society. To these more than 100,000 workers, the Taoiseach's and the Government's republic of opportunity is, quite frankly, a joke, and a bad one.

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