Four Year Plan for whom?
25 Nov 2010
The Government's National Recovery Plan (NRP) offers little or no hope to unemployed people and their families. The INOU and others have repeatedly called on the Government to protect the most vulnerable and a lot of their rhetoric implied that they would. However, actions speak louder than words and in this plan the Government are proposing taking €2.8bn out of the Social Welfare budget. Such a cut will bring people of working age back to 2006 social welfare rates. Does the Government seriously believe that unemployed people who are struggling to survive now will be able to manage on even less money into the future?
In our Pre-Budget Submission the INOU called on the Government to invest additional resources into addressing the unemployment crisis, as to-date the little they have done has been out of existing resources. However, they are now proposing under the NRP in 2011 to make savings of €100m under labour market activation measures. While at the same time there are media reports that the Minister for Social Protection is still backing his idea of mandatory participation. "This really is a case of adding insult to injury," said Bríd O'Brien, Head of Policy and Media with the INOU. Significant reform of the social welfare and employment service systems is urgently required: reform that finally delivers on the person centred approach outlined in a raft of Government policy documents including 'Towards 2016'.
"At a time of limited resources and few jobs it is essential that resources are used as effectively as possible and sending people on courses or programmes that will offer them little hope for the future is not the way to proceed," concluded Bríd. It is also an extraordinary approach when one considers that the Plan only includes a projection of job growth of 90,000 over the four year period. Such limited growth will not put a dent in the Live Register nor provide employment opportunities for the numbers of young people who will be leaving education over that period.
The Government are also proposing cutting the National Minimum Wage (NMW) by 11.6%. It is interesting to note that even Fine Gael, keen supporters of business think it's a bad idea and have called for a more equitable approach by starting with high earners. The INOU welcomes Government's commitment to finally start addressing the inequity of tax breaks however the organisation is concerned of the inclusion of people on the NMW in the tax net. It is appalling when one considers that the apparent gains of the Celtic Tiger years were spread so unevenly that there is so much talk of the pain being evenly spread. Whatever this plan may be, it is not a national recovery plan and its legacy will bring even greater inequality and poverty in Irish society.
