Garda Sergeant can't afford food

Boombastic · 20-10-2012 01:08PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

So you can you feed a family with children and pay for electricity, fuel, heating etc on €109 per week?

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I didn't see utilities taken out anywhere, if it's in the article I must have missed it?
How many kids would be the limit for 109/week?

You seem to have totally missed the article:p

Here you go

Now, the family’s total weekly income, including child benefit, is €807 net, according to Mabs. The following is its projected weekly expenditure, according to a schedule prepared by the same agency :

Mortgage (interest only): €280.00
Mortgage Protection Insurance €15,00
Buildings/Contents Insurance €7.00
Food/Housekeeping €200,00
Electricity Usage €25.00
Heat/Fuel Usage €25.00
TV licence €4.00
Waste Charges €5.00
Telephone/Other utilities €43.00
Transports costs €127.50
Educational costs (college registration fees, children’s uniforms) €75.00
Clothing/Footwear €60.00
Medical costs (insurance) €73.23
Repairs & Maintenance €20.00
Other Expenditure €84.00
Credit Union €50.00

Total €1,093.73

hatrickpatrick · 20-10-2012 01:15PM

^ So in other words, they have a €300 deficit per week, more or less.

The article says btw that they have €109 per week after deductions, so either someone isn't calculating properly or there's another deduction we're not considering here...

Shenshen · 20-10-2012 01:16PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

So you can you feed a family with children and pay for electricity, fuel, heating etc on €109 per week?

Probably not, no. But I can budget a salary that's more than twice my own (and more than my husband's and mine combined) to cover all bills, and then some.

I do not for one minute believe that they can't, either.

Boombastic · 20-10-2012 01:19PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

^ So in other words, they have a €300 deficit per week, more or less.

The article says btw that they have €109 per week after deductions, so either someone isn't calculating properly or there's another deduction we're not considering here...

Exactly!

looksee · 20-10-2012 01:22PM

€75 a week for school expenses, plus €60 for shoes? I can see at the beginning of the year there would be some expensive weeks, but €75 every week, all year round?

Shenshen · 20-10-2012 01:25PM

Boombastic wrote: »

You seem to have totally missed the article:p

Here you go

Now, the family’s total weekly income, including child benefit, is €807 net, according to Mabs. The following is its projected weekly expenditure, according to a schedule prepared by the same agency :

Mortgage (interest only): €280.00
Mortgage Protection Insurance €15,00
Buildings/Contents Insurance €7.00
Food/Housekeeping €200,00
Electricity Usage €25.00
Heat/Fuel Usage €25.00
TV licence €4.00
Waste Charges €5.00
Telephone/Other utilities €43.00
Transports costs €127.50
Educational costs (college registration fees, children’s uniforms) €75.00
Clothing/Footwear €60.00
Medical costs (insurance) €73.23
Repairs & Maintenance €20.00
Other Expenditure €84.00
Credit Union €50.00

Total €1,093.73

You know, looking at this, they're spending €200 a month on heating and another €200 on electricity.

I would suggest switching to energy saving bulbs, putting a timer on the imersion and the heating, making sure the lights are turned off when noone is in the room, and shopping around for a cheaper provider.
Oh, and cheaper phone provider, too.

GoldenLight · 20-10-2012 01:25PM

to the OP statement

Well I can't either on €186 a week (for everything), taking care of my Mother with Dementia and Cancer, but I'm not moaning about it (sorry I just did

)

I'm sorry to hear they can't afford food, on €109 a week, that is plenty to feed a family of 4, for a week, when you budget.

I actually feel bad for a family that can't live off €65,000.00 a year, but if it was me I would actually be seriously thinking about changing my lifestyle.

When I was a teenager I slept under the dinning room table, so that my parents could put students in my room, it's a bleeding rough patch deal with it, and stop whinging to the press.:rolleyes:

Show Time · 20-10-2012 02:14PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

They are NOT on 65k per year, that's BEFORE any deductions.

Christ, how hard is it to understand the difference between gross and net pay?!

My bad.:D

Sappa · 20-10-2012 02:45PM

I would be highly sceptical that a Garda Sergeant does not own an investment property,isn't it schooled into them at the Garda college.

Grayson · 20-10-2012 03:00PM

See, if they are struggling now, they must have been pretty close to the limits of his wages before hand. That means they got a house that cost too much. Probably thought it'd go up in price and evertually they'd trade up to a mansion.

And that's their own fault. I don't see why the rest of the countries tax payers should stump up extra money in taxes so he can have a nice house. How much does he expect to get paid for his job? 100k?

tayto lover · 20-10-2012 03:29PM

looksee wrote: »

€75 a week for school expenses, plus €60 for shoes? I can see at the beginning of the year there would be some expensive weeks, but €75 every week, all year round?

If they are in college in Dublin and have to travel by bus to the city then 75e would be appropriate.
My son travels from Dundalk to D.C.U. and it's 70e a week by bus.

Potential-Monke · 20-10-2012 03:30PM

Sappa wrote: »

I would be highly sceptical that a Garda Sergeant does not own an investment property,isn't it schooled into them at the Garda college.

Oh yes, it certainly is, along with courses on the necessity of eating doughnuts, finding free coffee, beating up innocent people, how to say veh-hic-el properly, the quickest way to gain weight, how to get out of trouble and how to act in Dublin City (cuz, you know, they're all big thick culchies)... :rolleyes:

juan.kerr · 20-10-2012 03:42PM

Boombastic wrote: »

Other Expenditure €84.00

Why do they go to the bother of breaking down the figures (e.g. TV licence) then lump in 'Other Expenditure', which is over 4k a year.

Qualitymark · 20-10-2012 03:42PM

:
Originally Posted by Qualitymark
Really? Where? (And do you put meat in your past sauce? I use a kilo of Lidl lean mince to make a load of it and freeze it, with tinned tomatoes, purée, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, reekings of garlic, thyme, a slosh of €3-a-bottle Aldi wine.)

Aidric wrote: »

You could do without the extravagance.

Why, by the way, Aldric? Why should I not cook with wine?

Potential-Monke · 20-10-2012 03:44PM

juan.kerr wrote: »

Why do they go to the bother of breaking down the figures (e.g. TV licence) then lump in 'Other Expenditure', which is over 4k a year.

It could be other spendings which may lead to the identification of the Sergeant in question.

20-10-2012 03:57PM

tayto lover wrote: »

If they are in college in Dublin and have to travel by bus to the city then 75e would be appropriate.
My son travels from Dundalk to D.C.U. and it's 70e a week by bus.

He probably won't be happy with someone on the internet telling you this but it's only 55 per week on Matthews. :pac:

juan.kerr · 20-10-2012 04:00PM

Potential-Monke wrote: »

It could be other spendings which may lead to the identification of the Sergeant in question.

Such as?

tayto lover · 20-10-2012 04:01PM

Deleted User wrote: »

He probably won't be happy with someone on the internet telling you this but it's only 55 per week on Matthews. :pac:

Ha ha probably not

. Is Bus Eireann dearer?

Qualitymark · 20-10-2012 04:04PM

Deleted User wrote: »

He probably won't be happy with someone on the internet telling you this but it's only 55 per week on Matthews. :pac:

To take up the Scrooge tone of this whole thread, my grandfather taught carpentry and cabinet-making twice a week in Dundalk, and used to cycle there and back from Rathmines. At the age of 70.

Probably why he died at 72 or so, poor old codger.

About time we started hitch-hiking and giving lifts to hitch-hikers again. Drives me nuts to see cars with just the driver on board scooting along.

The return ticket from Dublin to Belfast is €20; if it were possible to hop off in Newry and get a bus back to Dundalk, I think it's something like €8 return.

Or there's this http://getthere.ie - you can ask to carpool and give lifts here.

20-10-2012 04:04PM

tayto lover wrote: »

Ha ha probably not . Is Bus Eireann dearer?

I think Bus Eireann is cheaper but it goes via Drogheda, the airport and then through the port tunnel so is useless for DCU.

Madam_X · 20-10-2012 04:59PM

"Oh the Irish are begrudgers and gloaters weh weh" comments (from Irish people) - give it a rest ffs. Even after deductions this is not a salary that would have a family of six at the point where they can only eat cornflakes for full days.
I'm not one for delighting in people's misfortunes at all - I agree too the story was probably published in order to generate lots of tard public sector hate (it's like the Times has morphed into the Indo). Possibly exaggerations in there too. But I am simply low on sympathy because it would be possible to manage on this income with simple changes. I'm not saying it's a walk in the park for them either, and cost of living in this country is high, but mathematically and logically and statistically they could get by more successfully than this with better planning and management.

Couldn't care less btw that the guy is a public sector worker/guard. Not everyone is thick enough to hold blanket hatred for same.

juan.kerr · 20-10-2012 05:04PM

Apologies if this has been covered earlier, but are they dining on Kelloggs Cornflakes or own brand cornflakes?

jonsnow · 20-10-2012 05:13PM

cornflakes days thats nothing. I know two nurses with 4 kids where the family have "feral cat" days and a county engineer who currently lives in a hole covered with tarpaulin.Most people dont realise that its actually those with the highest incomes that are in the most trouble in this recession.Heartbreaking stuff.

Cantona's Collars · 20-10-2012 05:14PM

juan.kerr wrote: »

Apologies if this has been covered earlier, but are they dining on Kelloggs Cornflakes or own brand cornflakes?

Hand made organic cornflakes.

juan.kerr · 20-10-2012 05:15PM

At least they don't have to resort to the indignity of eating swans (yet).

jonsnow · 20-10-2012 05:17PM

The GRA are p****** in my cornflakes with all their hysterical prebudget whingefests in my morning paper.

Potential-Monke · 20-10-2012 05:25PM

juan.kerr wrote: »

Such as?

Loan from another financial institute, a combination of loans from other financial institutes, hire purchase repayment, payment to his last wife for childcare, donation to charities, donation to a separate pension fund, fines from work, etc...

juan.kerr · 20-10-2012 05:34PM

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Loan from another financial institute, a combination of loans from other financial institutes, hire purchase repayment, payment to his last wife for childcare, donation to charities, donation to a separate pension fund, fines from work, etc...

None of this would 'identify' the Sergeant, so I don't really accept your original response.

All they need to do is split it out with 'Loan repayments' or 'Maintenance' or similar, they already break out Mortgage and Credit Union so I'd be surprised if this is servicing further debt. I'm not expecting them to list the financial institutions or name the ex-spouse.

As for donations to Charity or supplementary Pension Fund, that's the last thing they should be spending money on right now.

The figures would be net of 'fines from work' as these would be deducted at source.

Leaving a 4k figure unaccounted for raises my suspicions.

Madam_X · 20-10-2012 05:39PM

Pension fund donations are mandatory in the public sector I think.

juan.kerr · 20-10-2012 05:41PM

Madam_X wrote: »

Pension fund donations are mandatory in the public sector I think.

Yes, but they are taken at source. The figures quoted are net income, meaning after all payroll deductions such as tax and pension contributions.

Garda Sergeant can't afford food

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