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Free travel passes not to be touched in budget - Minister Burton
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The rise in the number of people diagnosed with an emotional or psychological condition some degree of mental illness or depression that is bad enough that they can’t work is mostly due to certain conditions being included in the list of conditions which if long term can render a person disabled. Many of these people were looked after by family and survived before on JSA and strong medications but it was then possibly rightly decided that someone on such medication was not fit or capable of working due to health and safety concerns and the old "get over it" and "you need to get out more" attitude to mental illness once practiced by the state has thankfully changed!
So...you would'nt go along with any other possible explanation then....?Of course, there is also the possibility that some people are seeking to have a condition diagnosed in order to stay on benefits indefinitely and to avoid their long-term benefits becoming conditional on having to go out looking for work.
As McWilliams states,the current level of INCREASE in Disability levels is pointing to something seriously wrong with Irelands people,and it is verging on epidemic proportions....but as he points out....People on disability don’t show up in any of the places we usually look to see how the economy is doing. But the story of these programmes – who goes on them, and why, and what happens after that – is, to a large extent, an undocumented one.
It is perhaps indicative of how this country operates,that the greatest level of actual documentation on the problem may well be The number of Free Travel Scheme recipients categorized as being in reciept of a "Disability" related benefit....
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay (1812-1889)
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Hilly Bill wrote: »You can be sure that there are some out there who are, these are the ones that should be targeted.
Targetting is not a term we like to see used for anything round these parts,particularly when it's about the Big BAD State trying to impose some order on it's citizens....
But the "Between The Lines" readers should be very active after the Luas 10Th Birthday celebration comments by the Ministerial duo here....
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/scrapping-of-free-travel-pass-not-on-the-agenda-30396029.htmlMinister Varadakar said that "any suggestion that we are going to take away the free travel pass for pensioners just isn't on the agenda", but that there are issues surrounding it which need to be addressed, particularly in relation to the issue of "fraud and IDs".
The continued fixation of the media on The Free Travel Scheme being a dedicated OAP specific scheme,is a Godsend to Ministers such as Leo V,as it allows them to make statements such as the above,without having to elaborate that "Pensioners" make up less than 50% of the Scheme's Members
Equally interesting is the news that the scheme was "recently reviewed by a working group comprised of members from an interdepartmental government panel and the National Transport Authority",as it confirms the scale of the review.
The essence of the problem was well summed up by Kevin Traynor of the Coach Tourism Transport Council ..."What you have to remember is that while revenues have stayed static, costs haven't," he said. "Costs of diesel, wages, parts and there is more and more legislation coming in to this area so there are even costs associated with that as well." - See more at: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/scrapping-of-free-travel-pass-not-on-the-agenda-30396029.html#sthash.pbh34g5n.dpuf
Watch this space.....:)Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay (1812-1889)
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Bongalongherb: The older folk at retirement now are getting more sh!t than the government because of a bloody free travel pass. Some comment's I read here are just the same ole idiots complaining day in and day out about me me me and I have to pay for them old folk out of my wages as being taxed to do so. A bunch of fooking babies you are.
I think perhaps you may re-read the thread,as the distinction is VERY clearly made about just how the Free Travel Scheme is most Definitely NOT the preserve of OAP's any longer.
Minister Varadakar in his wide ranging interview with RTE's Sean O Rourke went to great pains to (Correctly) reassure the OAP sector of the Free Travel Scheme's continuance.
Just to recap,and for further cinsideration,the issue is about how the currently MASSIVE Free Travel entitlement can be funded,bearing in mind the huge yearly increases in those availing of it,versus the freezing of funding since 2010.
One does'nt have to be an idiot,ole or otherwise,to recognize an impending collapse under the conditions now being experienced UNLESS some form of corrective action is taken...which is exactly what Mr Varadakar is most definitely suggesting..
With approximately 3,000,000 ADULT's in our Population and a Labour Force of 2,154,000 (http://www.indexmundi.com/ireland/labor_force.html) there is a definite Mathematical problem as to how a universal Free Travel entitlement can be funded for 1,110,000 persons .
Of the c.760,000 Free Travel passes in circulation the majority(>344,000) are now in the possession of NON OAP recipients.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay (1812-1889)
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I think perhaps you may re-read the thread,as the distinction is VERY clearly made about just how the Free Travel Scheme is most Definitely NOT the preserve of OAP's any longer.
Minister Varadakar in his wide ranging interview with RTE's Sean O Rourke went to great pains to (Correctly) reassure the OAP sector of the Free Travel Scheme's continuance.
Just to recap,and for further cinsideration,the issue is about how the currently MASSIVE Free Travel entitlement can be funded,bearing in mind the huge yearly increases in those availing of it,versus the freezing of funding since 2010.
One does'nt have to be an idiot,ole or otherwise,to recognize an impending collapse under the conditions now being experienced UNLESS some form of corrective action is taken...which is exactly what Mr Varadakar is most definitely suggesting.
Regarding your comment... It is complete and utter bullsh!t in the extreme.
May the Gods of text have mercy on your soul.
Ah sure the government will be sleeping with the dead soon. If they cut this (below) then what else will they cut for the older folk ? and the rest of us ? the bastards that they are.
.The Government has defended its decision to cut grants to the families of the deceased.
Brendan Howlin said the scrapping of the Bereavement Grant was the fairest way of taking money from older generations.
The €850 grant to cover the costs of a funeral was scrapped in today's Budget, 15/10/2013
But Minister Howlin says the other options would have been much more difficult
"We've done our level best, as with all social welfare payments, to maintain what we call a threshold of decency," he said.
He said none of the other available options "recommend themselves as easy."
From a waster politician.0
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