Reduce unemployment benefit

rossie1977

deepriver wrote: »

it never ceases to amaze me how pubs in some lower socio-economic areas are rammed at lunch time, me thinks the welfare is mispent - replace 50% of welfare with food stamps for the same value...that would knock daytime drinking on the head...

... those same pubs always have a bookies 2 doors down... I have no illusions as to where most of welfare payments go

well the only good thing about that is that alot the dole payment monies is going straight back to the government via alcohol and cigs tax, the rest of the money is keeping local people in that area in business

the dole payments you need to be looking at is those monies leaving the country

useful_contacts

littletiger wrote: »

Everyone one is complaining about public sector pay and that it should be reduced and benchmarked against eurozone countries.

Lets do the same for people who are receiving unemployment benifit. What's good for the goose.....

Yes those two are EXACTLY the same:rolleyes:

jesus!!!

easyeason3

easyeason3 wrote: »

I would agree with that except for one thing. I currently have a car loan (trying to sell but no buyers), a personal loan & rent. I'm not including food in that because I basically live on pasta & rice which Lidl sell really cheap.
Now I know the loans are my responsibilty but without the €204 a week I get I'd probably have the baliffs at the door.
So car loan is €80, personal loan is €20 & rent is €50. So that leaves me with €54 a week to try & squirrel away money for electricity etc.
As it is I can't afford to go to the doctor & I need to get a check up done but I'm putting it on the long finger because I'm too embarrassed by my financial situation.
I would gladly live on €150 a week if I didn't have the above responsibilites but at the moment it's not an option for me.

also not to be rude but €320 a month on a car is either a new or expensive car - and while I don't think people should be homeless - social welfare is there to help you survive the tough times - not pay for your lovely car and personal loan which could have been used to pay for a holiday (assumption I know)

cork1

littletiger wrote: »

Everyone one is complaining about public sector pay and that it should be reduced and benchmarked against eurozone countries.

Lets do the same for people who are receiving unemploymeny benifit. What's good for the goose.....

Dont even go there! your obviously not on the dole and if you were you wouldnt be half as smart! i would love nothing more than to be back work 50 hour weeks but its not happening. i get €15 per day i dont work! what would you reduce that to? in fact why dont i pay them as im at it. some people hear need to click into reality in a huuuuuuuuuuuge way.

easyeason3

ShooterSF wrote: »

Not to be rude but medical card?

I honestly don't know if I can get one. The day I went to sign on for the first time the lady behind the counter had to treat me like a child because I was so clueless as to what I needed. I've never had to sign on before so to say it was humiliating is putting it mildly.
I probably am entitled to it but I'm hoping to start work in the next few weeks so i'll be able to sort it out myself then.
To be honest I'm desperately embarrassed by the situation I'm in & I don't think I'd have the courage to look for a medical card.
I've always been independent & as it's not urgent for me to see the doctor I want to hang on to a little bit of dignity & at least pay for it myself.

easyeason3

easyeason3 wrote: »

I would agree with that except for one thing. I currently have a car loan (trying to sell but no buyers), a personal loan & rent. I'm not including food in that because I basically live on pasta & rice which Lidl sell really cheap.
Now I know the loans are my responsibilty but without the €204 a week I get I'd probably have the baliffs at the door.
So car loan is €80, personal loan is €20 & rent is €50. So that leaves me with €54 a week to try & squirrel away money for electricity etc.
As it is I can't afford to go to the doctor & I need to get a check up done but I'm putting it on the long finger because I'm too embarrassed by my financial situation.
I would gladly live on €150 a week if I didn't have the above responsibilites but at the moment it's not an option for me.

downgrade the car or extend the loan.. 320euro a month on a car loan is crazy when it's your biggest expenditure.

what do you drive out of interest?

easyeason3

easyeason3 wrote: »

To be honest I'm desperately embarrassed by the situation I'm in & I don't think I'd have the courage to look for a medical card.
I've always been independent & as it's not urgent for me to see the doctor I want to hang on to a little bit of dignity & at least pay for it myself.

As I pointed out earlier, if you have paid your taxes then you shouldn't be ashamed of claiming what you are entitled to

I hope the job works out for you, it's tough times.

cork1

cork1 wrote: »

some people hear need to click into reality in a huuuuuuuuuuuge way.

having lived on dole, i'm gonna take my points as being valid.. i thought it was ridiculous money then and it went up more since.

easyeason3

Deleted User wrote: »

also not to be rude but €320 a month on a car is either a new or expensive car - and while I don't think people should be homeless - social welfare is there to help you survive the tough times - not pay for your lovely car and personal loan which could have been used to pay for a holiday (assumption I know)

I have another years finance left on the car & have dropped the price to well below what it is worth but I'd actually be better off writing it off. The personal loan will be cleared in another six months. The personal loan wasn't for a holiday, I've never borrowed to go anywhere. It was used for an architect.
I can understand that social welfare is not there for luxuries such as a car/ personal loan but like a lot of people I never thought I'd be in this situation.
Also I'm using it to keep the wolf from the door, which would be tough times as you said.

kumate_champ07

Deleted User wrote: »

As I pointed out earlier, if you have paid your taxes then you shouldn't be ashamed of claiming what you are entitled to

I hope the job works out for you, it's tough times.

exactly, why should people feel ashamed to go on the dole, you pay tax and then u get some of the benefit of paying those taxes when u hit hard times.

easyeason3

Deleted User wrote: »

downgrade the car or extend the loan.. 320euro a month on a car loan is crazy when it's your biggest expenditure.

what do you drive out of interest?

I asked about extending the loan but the pig I dealt with at the bank more or less told me to get lost, which I would have accepted if my credit history was a bit dodgy but I've never been late for a payment.

I'm leaving myself open to getting torn apart here but I drive an Audi.

Terry

easyeason3 wrote: »

I have another years finance left on the car & have dropped the price to well below what it is worth but I'd actually be better off writing it off. The personal loan will be cleared in another six months. The personal loan wasn't for a holiday, I've never borrowed to go anywhere. It was used for an architect.
I can understand that social welfare is not there for luxuries such as a car/ personal loan but like a lot of people I never thought I'd be in this situation.
Also I'm using it to keep the wolf from the door, which would be tough times as you said.

For future reference: http://www.aib.ie/personal/savings/Regular-Saving-Accounts/Regular-Saver-Account

ShooterSF

easyeason3 wrote: »

I honestly don't know if I can get one. The day I went to sign on for the first time the lady behind the counter had to treat me like a child because I was so clueless as to what I needed. I've never had to sign on before so to say it was humiliating is putting it mildly.
I probably am entitled to it but I'm hoping to start work in the next few weeks so i'll be able to sort it out myself then.
To be honest I'm desperately embarrassed by the situation I'm in & I don't think I'd have the courage to look for a medical card.
I've always been independent & as it's not urgent for me to see the doctor I want to hang on to a little bit of dignity & at least pay for it myself.

I'm nearly certain you would be due one if unemployed. I know looking for handouts can be humiliating and certain people's attitude to everyone on welfare doesn't help but you're entitled to it and if you feel like it you can always hand it back if you get work in few weeks.
Jim Henson's shyness when coming to look after his health is the reason we have weird sounding muppets

easyeason3

easyeason3 wrote: »

I have another years finance left on the car & have dropped the price to well below what it is worth but I'd actually be better off writing it off. The personal loan will be cleared in another six months. The personal loan wasn't for a holiday, I've never borrowed to go anywhere. It was used for an architect.
I can understand that social welfare is not there for luxuries such as a car/ personal loan but like a lot of people I never thought I'd be in this situation.
Also I'm using it to keep the wolf from the door, which would be tough times as you said.

easyeason3, this is the problem of our welfare system. if someone can maintain a 320euro a month car loan, they are getting too much benefits.

with more and more people on benefit, the people left working are paying off car loans of the unemployed. your car cost 10k-12k and you can still afford to pay it off with no job.. madness.

easyeason3

easyeason3 wrote: »

I could afford to have social welfare cut by a maximum of €10. Anymore than that & I don't think I would manage financially. As it is things are extremely tight money wise.

easyeason3 wrote: »

I'm leaving myself open to getting torn apart here but I drive an Audi.

:rolleyes:

easyeason3

Deleted User wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Ads I don't like being a burden on society. I don't like getting money for nothing regardless of the taxes I have previously paid. I don't like waking up in the morning & feeling completely & utterly useless. I don't like meeting people on the street that I haven't met for a while & to be asked ' Where are you working these days, still in X'.

I can totally understand your point of view. But there is a lot of people out there in a similar, if not worse, situation than me. A lot of people who have car loans, personal loans & mortgages to maintain.

If I could turn back the clock & not buy the bastard of a car then believe me I would, but I can't so the only thing I can do is maintain it as best as I can until I can sell it.

I really wish I could change so much, but I can't. To be honest everyone is entitled to an opinion but I feel like enough of waste without you adding to it.

So believe me you can't possibly make me feel any worse than I already do.

Disease Ridden

Just thought I'd point out these government unemployment projections to everybody to let them know both how hard work is going to be to find in the next few years and how possible it is that the smug people on here who condemn those on social welfare will lose their jobs and end up on the dole themselves.

http://budget.gov.ie/2009SupApril09/downloads/Macroeconomic%20and%20Fiscal%20Framework%202009-2013.pdf
Page 6

Bear in mind that the figures given are the average figures for each of the years and that the figures are also likely to be the median estimate. This means that unemployment could very well hit 17 or 18 % by the end of 2010, meaning that an awful lot of people with well-founded job worries at the minute are likely to be on the dole by Christmas 2010. With this in mind, I definitley think the dole should be cut substantially in the next budget as we simply wont as a nation be able to support them all, END OF. Im not going to say it should be dropped by 50 quid for everybody or something but I think some more intricate system of saving money shoul be brougt in eg. anybody on the dole since 2005 say and who hasnt worked sinse should get less than somebody who loses their job in the last 2 years etc

Disease Ridden

Disease Ridden wrote: »

Just thought I'd point out these government unemployment projections to everybody to let them know both how hard work is going to be to find in the next few years and how possible it is that the smug people on here who condemn those on social welfare will lose their jobs and end up on the dole themselves.

http://budget.gov.ie/2009SupApril09/downloads/Macroeconomic%20and%20Fiscal%20Framework%202009-2013.pdf
Page 6

Bear in mind that the figures given are the average figures for each of the years and that the figures are also likely to be the median estimate. This means that unemployment could very well hit 17 or 18 % by the end of 2010, meaning that an awful lot of people with well-founded job worries at the minute are likely to be on the dole by Christmas 2010. With this in mind, I definitley think the dole should be cut substantially in the next budget as we simply wont as a nation be able to support them all, END OF. Im not going to say it should be dropped by 50 quid for everybody or something but I think some more intricate system of saving money shoul be brougt in eg. anybody on the dole since 2005 say and who hasnt worked sinse should get less than somebody who loses their job in the last 2 years etc

i don't think anyone is condemning those on the dole.. the level of payment is comparison to europe is being questioned.

the fact is i'd happily survive on 150 a week without rent allowance. i can get 205 plus rent allowance and that's crazy with the current budget deficit so you're right, it needs to be lowered..

Terry

Deleted User wrote: »

i don't think anyone is condemning those on the dole.. the level of payment is comparison to europe is being questioned.

the fact is i'd happily survive on 150 a week without rent allowance. i can get 205 plus rent allowance and that's crazy with the current budget deficit so you're right, it needs to be lowered..

Ok.
If you get layed off, then I expect you to give €50 of your dole to charity and show us the reciepts here.

Are you willing to do that, or are you just talking crap?

Terry

Terry wrote: »

Ok.
If you get layed off, then I expect you to give €50 of your dole to charity and show us the reciepts here.

Are you willing to do that, or are you just talking crap?

i said i'd happily survive on 150euro. if i'm gettin a free 50euro to spend on pints, i will.

my point here is that i could survive.. sell the car and spend 80euro on rent and 70euro on food and drink. what else does a man with no kids need.

Sage'sMama

easyeason3 wrote: »

Ads I don't like being a burden on society. I don't like getting money for nothing regardless of the taxes I have previously paid. I don't like waking up in the morning & feeling completely & utterly useless. I don't like meeting people on the street that I haven't met for a while & to be asked ' Where are you working these days, still in X'.

So believe me you can't possibly make me feel any worse than I already do.

Disease Ridden wrote: »

Just thought I'd point out these government unemployment projections to everybody to let them know both how hard work is going to be to find in the next few years and how possible it is that the smug people on here who condemn those on social welfare will lose their jobs and end up on the dole themselves.

http://budget.gov.ie/2009SupApril09/downloads/Macroeconomic%20and%20Fiscal%20Framework%202009-2013.pdf
Page 6


I really cannot believe the b*ll**** that the majority are spouting on these threads! :mad: Anyone who has lost their jobs due to the recession including myself do not want to be on the dole but if you'd open your eyes and ears you would know that the likelyhood of them getting jobs over the next 12 mths or more is incredibly limited. The fact is more jobs are lost daily than being created. You should be greatfull you still have a job and realise you could quickly end up on the dole or your friends and family and this might make you all realise that you cannot paint everyone on the dole with the same brush. And i do not sit on my ass all day doing nothing i go to college in the evenings and volunteer at an animal sanctuary to make myslef feel somewhat usefull and higher my chances of re-employment when the jobs are there. I have worked since i left school and put myself through college so i don't need dimwits to tell me that i don't deserve every penny i get on the dole but i would gladly choose to work again. If the dole is being reduced then everything else would have to fall equally wages, cost of living etc. The reason the dole is "high" is that it reflected the least amount of money the government thought a person could survive on with expenses etc. Of course it should be reviewed as the cost of living falls but it hasn't fallen enough yet to allow for a decrease.

Terry

Deleted User wrote: »

i said i'd happily survive on 150euro. if i'm gettin a free 50euro to spend on pints, i will.

my point here is that i could survive.. sell the car and spend 80euro on rent and 70euro on food and drink. what else does a man with no kids need.

So you will criticise those who are getting €200 a week, but would happily take that yourself?
I don't understand your point.

You think people on the dole should only get €150 a week and are quite vocal about that, but would willingly spend the extra €50 yourself on drink?

Are you taking the piss or what?

Joey the lips

rossie1977 wrote: »

well the only good thing about that is that alot the dole payment monies is going straight back to the government via alcohol and cigs tax, the rest of the money is keeping local people in that area in business

the dole payments you need to be looking at is those monies leaving the country

+ 1 Well said rossie. Its amazing how the country wants to cut and slash from the needy and it fails to tackle benefit fraud effectivly.Look at the amount of benefit leaving the country, Look at the amount of unmarried loan parents living with their spouses, look at the amount of loan parent dads claiming tax relief while the mothers claim welfare.

To suggest that a lage percentage of people on the dole spend it in the pub is stigmatising them. Its the equiv of saying all those who go out on a sat night are junkies cause of the large amount of coke found in toilets. again daft.

But cut the dole cause I know all you that "Get the dole!" would agree to this and all you who have never been unfortunate enough to end up on the dole know that they get to much.

Remember your opinions count and you make you own bed. PS: I thought the initive by the goverment to cut the dole for teenagers should be interesting considering their opinion does not matter cause they dont vote.

kelle

Joey the lips wrote: »

+ 1 , Look at the amount of unmarried loan parents living with their spouses, look at the amount of loan parent dads claiming tax relief while the mothers claim welfare.

I've heard of that happening, but surely Revenue and Social Welfare work together and can spot these fraudsters a mile off?


Personally, a huge bulk of my wages goes on childcare that I'd actually be better off if I was drawing the dole and not paying childcare. But I love working, and it's obvious from this thread most people on the dole would prefer to be working than signing on.

Run_to_da_hills

They reckon 50% of those on the dole Smoke, Just hike up the price of Tobacco again and the Government will recoup this money back into the exchequer. :P

Joey the lips

kelle wrote: »

I've heard of that happening, but surely Revenue and Social Welfare work together and can spot these fraudsters a mile off?


Personally, a huge bulk of my wages goes on childcare that I'd actually be better off if I was drawing the dole and not paying childcare. But I love working, and it's obvious from this thread most people on the dole would prefer to be working than signing on.

Again Kelle I like your sense. A lot of people would be better drawing the dole but they chooose to work and contribute equally a lot of people on the dole would love to work. This is evident by the amount of people taking up volentary work.

And no social welfare fraud has not gone and is getting worse, cause the goverment have cut inspectors.

Terry

Terry wrote: »

So you will criticise those who are getting €200 a week, but would happily take that yourself?
I don't understand your point.

You think people on the dole should only get €150 a week and are quite vocal about that, but would willingly spend the extra €50 yourself on drink?

Are you taking the piss or what?

if i go on dole and it gets dropped to 150, i won't be on here bitching about it cause i'll still get by perfect..

Irish Times on New York wrote:

And then there’s the group who account for approximately 60 per cent of the unemployed in the city who are not eligible for any unemployment benefits. This group is comprised of freelancers, new entrants to the workforce, retirees returning to the workforce and people like Yvonne Fitzner (66) who have exhausted their benefits. Yvonne lost her job as an assistant in a psychologist’s office in June 2006. Because of her age she now qualifies for a social security payment of $898 a month which leaves her short $79 for her rent. She gets about $6 a day in food stamps. To cover household essentials, she has to dip into her savings so she now only brushes her teeth once a day, uses deodorant every other day and is learning to live without toilet paper.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0416/1224244811778.html


see if i had to live like that on the dole, i'd have a right to give out.

Bovered

Those complaining about people on welfare, you are all a pack of little Nazi's.

Wait until you get the boot from your job. Once again you pick the easy target. Why not hound your beloved bankers and politicians in their suits and ties?? They caused this crisis after all.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Deleted User wrote: »

it's not unreasonable.. In the thread earlier about the guy with 4 kids and a house, he was taking home c.37k in welfare.

that's 9 times what i pay in income tax.. 9 people to support one family.

Where did this person get 37K a year? He's not on social welfare, it can't be possible. If you get all benifits from social welfare, it doesn't add up to this.

Upward Spiral wrote: »

170 euro per week would suffice imo. I had to sign on 3 weeks ago and have bills and rent to pay, but for a single person with no kids, the rate now is laughably high.

I really couldn't blame people for taking up the dole queues full-time.

For you it would be, for me it would be, but for someone with a child, house, car, etc etc it wouldn't be.

Sage'sMama wrote: »

The people on the dole should be then made to paint the cliffs of moher and when they are finished jump.

GTFO...

Novella wrote: »

Damn right it should be reduced! No one deserves that amount of money for doing sweet **** all. The only people who don't agree with this are the one's claiming it. I think it's fair enough if you've just been made redundant or whatever but for those who've never worked, those people should get zilch! Oh, and if you have kids, that is your problem. I'm sorry but if you couldn't afford them, you shouldn't have had them.

Usual rubbish argument, "they do sfa". Some people are just so narrow minded, how they live their daily lives is beyond me... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I am sure a lot of people that had kids would have been in a better financial situation. Nobody, including yourself, can see the future, nobody can plan for this.

easyeason3 wrote: »

I could afford to have social welfare cut by a maximum of €10. Anymore than that & I don't think I would manage financially. As it is things are extremely tight money wise.

What about unforseen circumstances? An emergency of some sort??? Do you save for that?

Also I'd like to see a massive clamp down on single mothers having a house paid for by the state all to themselves. One woman who lives a street away from me has one child & has a four bedroom house being paid for at the moment. That in my opinion is an absolute disgrace. And it's not an isolated case either. Most single mothers who have a house provided for them have at the minimum a three bedroom house when there is only an adult & child living in it.

I'm not targetting single mothers here at all, it's just an example that popped into my head. I know they have to live somewhere too.

The system is a joke, why the big house? The house should have 2 bedrooms max. I don't understand why they are put into 3 and 4 bedroom houses, unless they have that many kids of course.

deepriver wrote: »

it never ceases to amaze me how pubs in some lower socio-economic areas are rammed at lunch time, me thinks the welfare is mispent - replace 50% of welfare with food stamps for the same value...that would knock daytime drinking on the head...

... those same pubs always have a bookies 2 doors down... I have no illusions as to where most of welfare payments go

You think people spend 50% of their welfare on food? I go out about once every 2-3 weeks. Don't spend a lot of money on drink. You will find the majority of people on social welfare in the same boat. People think there is a solution to the drinking problem, there is not, people will drink regardless.

Deleted User wrote: »

i didn't deserve 197euro plus rent allowance if i had went for it.. neither do all the boy-racers, alcoholics and gamblers that make up a massive proportion of the dole.

Explain to me why "boy-racers" don't deserve it? Same with alcoholics and gamblers. You believe those who spend money on "proper" things, deserve more? Those who drink and gamble deserve less? They can spend the money on what they wish...

Deleted User wrote: »

easyeason3, this is the problem of our welfare system. if someone can maintain a 320euro a month car loan, they are getting too much benefits.

with more and more people on benefit, the people left working are paying off car loans of the unemployed. your car cost 10k-12k and you can still afford to pay it off with no job.. madness.

Maybe they are making the cuts elsewhere to make the loan payments? If you are in a finance agreement it is in your best interest to prioritise that payment, of course, most of ye know nothing about finance or the likes...

Where did the poster state that he bought the full car with his dole money?

easyeason3 wrote: »

If I could turn back the clock & not buy the bastard of a car then believe me I would, but I can't so the only thing I can do is maintain it as best as I can until I can sell it.

Selling your car would be a pretty bad idea, no matter how much you need the money, you may need your car for work and what not... Wouldn't be a wise decision...

ShooterSF

Ernest Ancient Rectangle wrote: »

For you it would be, for me it would be, but for someone with a child, house, car, etc etc it wouldn't be.

This a point for me. Surely people with a house and car etc means all people should still get 200 in "benefit". This gives those with a house and car time, if needed to sell them before moving onto allowance which should be a decent reduction on the 200.

I'm against people who have more (car, house etc.) getting more in social welfare.