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Child Item

Four TDs going to see what it's like to live on the dole for a week.

LostBoy101

Journal reporting this laughable piece of journalism.

WOULD YOU LIKE a TD to move into your home, experience the life you lead and essentially walk a mile in your shoes for one week?
Over the years there have been plenty of calls for politicians imposing budget cuts to live on social welfare to see how they survive.

http://www.thejournal.ie/tds-social-welfare-tv3-1640775-Aug2014/

I think a week on the dole is not going to help evaluate the full picture as they are not taking into account the ESB, Heating, Property Tax and Water Tax bills. Another PR stunt in my opinion.

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Valetta

Tordelback wrote: »

That particular 'scratcher' strawman is demonstrably nonsense - the historic long-term unemployment rate over the past few decades is about 3-4% here, and currently running at around 7% - against the 12.5% overall unemployment rate. So at worst you're talking about less than a third of people on the dole being habitual social welfare recipients (of which a proportion will be deserving by any metric), with only about half of all recipients out of work for more than a year. Characterising dole claimants as low-aiming lotus-eaters is statistical b*ll*cks.

Does not compute.

ROCKMAN

Think if they send four lads on the dole up to The Dail to do their jobs for a week would be a more interesting programme.

Idbatterim

if they cut the welfare down E50 per week for the long term wasters (say 100,000) it would save €260,000,000. Put that towards creating jobs for those that want them or cutting taxes for those that have them...

thats 8667 jobs at 30k per year net...

I Heart Internet

Idbatterim wrote: »

if they cut the welfare down E50 per week for the long term wasters (say 100,000) it would save €260,000,000. Put that towards creating jobs for those that want them or cutting taxes for those that have them...

Hard to argue with that really. Drop it (job seeker's benefit/allowance) by 10 euro per year up to a max of €50 drop after 5 years.

Not draconian, just a gradual reduction.

Timberrrrrrrr

Idbatterim wrote: »

if they cut the welfare down E50 per week for the long term wasters (say 100,000) it would save €260,000,000. Put that towards creating jobs for those that want them or cutting taxes for those that have them...

thats 8667 jobs at 30k per year net...

What's a "long term waster" in your opinion?

cloud493

InReality wrote: »

Its a lot better than nothing .

There was a program few years about being homeless - they got some famous people to do it for a few days. One lad fecked off to a hotel on the first night and then didn't come back on the show at all.

Ah yes, I remember. A descendant of Winston Churchill, and the bloke who played Les on coronation street if I recall.

Idbatterim

What's a "long term waster" in your opinion?

Exactly what the name implies and I you and everyone else know exactly what I am talking about, the 110,000+ who "couldnt" :rolleyes: get a job during the most ridiculous boom ever, where we were taking in tens if not hundreds of thousands a year to fill everything from the most menial job to higher end ones... I came across a chart yesterday, immigration into Ireland in 2007 was 125,000 or 150,000 I cant recall the exact figure, but it was a ridiculous one!

You can throw the "strategic mothers" into the mix...

What's a "long term waster" in your opinion?

Whats your opinion on the German system?

ShagNastii

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

You think this accurately describes unemployed people?

I can’t fathom why people get heated and question when this is mentioned here. Talk to anyone that works in a bookmakers or pub and they’ll tell you that a large chunk of their everyday daytime customers are unemployed.
Even if this is maybe 3-4% or people I think if somebody states they are vexed that these people are swanning about at the expense of the hard working tax payer (them) they have a far from moot argument. It is a bit like the “T-word” argument
It is perfectly understandable for people getting annoyed about millions of euro going towards fund people who seemly give nothing back or make no effort to.

Idbatterim

Hard to argue with that really. Drop it (job seeker's benefit/allowance) by 10 euro per year up to a max of €50 drop after 5 years.

Not draconian, just a gradual reduction.

I would do similar to some states in the US, it would depend on economic conditions, i.e. if bad, freeze it, when things start improving, drop it... then again I would also have welfare pay out based on what you paid in I.e PAY RELATED SOCIAL INSURANCE! but why should world class Ireland look at how or question how its done in other countries...

WinnyThePoo

Send them on a 9 month jobbridge getting 200 quid.

House of Blaze

So they'll be working and signing?

F**kin scroungers.

suicide_circus

I can see this show being an embarrassing insult. True to form for tv3.

cloud493

suicide_circus wrote: »

I can see this show being an embarrassing insult. True to form for tv3.

This, pretty much. TD's acting shocked at stuff, moments away from the families where they say how its a disgrace, then they go off back to their mansions or whatever.

Timberrrrrrrr

cloud493 wrote: »

This, pretty much. TD's acting shocked at stuff, moments away from the families where they say how its a disgrace, then they go off back to their mansions or whatever.

Love how folk keep dropping this line as if they all sit in their libraries at night sipping cognac and watching the servants through their monocles :rolleyes:

Donkey Oaty

There is still time to salvage this programme with an unexpected twist.

For example, they have to do the whole thing naked.

cloud493

Yeah cos TD's all live in bedsits or council houses and shop in Aldi and Lidl

*insert condescending :rolleyes: here*

Valetta

cloud493 wrote: »

Yeah cos TD's all live in bedsits or council houses and shop in Aldi and Lidl

*insert condescending :rolleyes: here*

Enda Kenny lives in a one bedroomed apartment in inner city Dublin, just like thousands of ordinary peasants, including unemoyed ones.

Tordelback

Valetta wrote: »

Does not compute.

Sure it does. The people being ladled with contempt here are seen to spend their lives on the dole - so they are obviously part of the historic 3-4% long-term unemployed, and not the post-crash 7%, which takes in anyone who has been unemployed for more than a year, which speaking from experience is not a long time in the scheme of things. My argument is that only 3-4% of the 12.5% unemployed have been 'eternally' out of work in the manner described by so many on this thread, and a good chunk of those may have legitimate issues with getting a job. The 'wasters' (and no-one is denying they exist) have to be less than a third and probably a lot less than a quarter of dole recipients.

And yet in a ridiculously idealised form they are used to characterise, and demonise, the great majority, who the statistics show get off the dole as fast as they can. Because it is an unspeakable crap way to spend your one life.

Valetta

Tordelback wrote: »

Sure it does. The people being ladled with contempt here are seen to spend their lives on the dole - so they are obviously part of the historic 3-4% long-term unemployed, and not the post-crash 7%, which takes in anyone who has been unemployed for more than a year, which speaking from experience is not a long time in the scheme of things. My argument is that only 3-4% of the 12.5% unemployed have been 'eternally' out of work in the manner described by so many on this thread, and a good chunk of those may have legitimate issues with getting a job. The 'wasters' (and no-one is denying they exist) have to be less than a third and probably a lot less than a quarter of dole recipients.

And yet in a ridiculously idealised form they are used to characterise, and demonise, the great majority, who the statistics show get off the dole as fast as they can. Because it is an unspeakable crap way to spend your one life.

5 years ago, that 3 or 4 % represented about 80% of the unemployed.

It's the same people now.

Donkey Oaty

Tordelback wrote: »

Because it is an unspeakable crap way to spend your one life.

We need some creative solutions for people in that particular situation, because the usual ones don't seem to have worked.

I've heard that in Sweden it is - or at least used to be the case - that if you were unemployed for over a year you were automatically entitled to a job of some sort in the public sector.

Now, I have no idea of the ins and outs of this or how well it worked - does anyone else know?

Could such a thing work here?

WILL NEVER LOG OFF

Valetta wrote: »

Enda Kenny lives in a one bedroomed apartment in inner city Dublin, just like thousands of ordinary peasants, including unemoyed ones.

Doesn't he live in the Taoiseach's Lodge?

i know he has this residence at his disposal...

Valetta

WILL NEVER LOG OFF wrote: »

Doesn't he live in the Taoiseach's Lodge?

i know he has this residence at his disposal...

This the one up in the Phoenix Park?

I think Brian Cowen wAs the only one to use that.

Kenny has an apartment in Fenian St.

WILL NEVER LOG OFF

Valetta wrote: »

Kenny has an apartment in Fenian St.

I know he does, but he also has access to a private house on 70 acres in the farmleigh estate.

i have no idea how regularly he uses it; media reports said he intended to.

point being he has a nice variety of choices, which of course is fine, but he's not quite experiencing life like other inner city "peasants" as you say

Tordelback

Valetta wrote: »

5 years ago, that 3 or 4 % represented about 80% of the unemployed.

It's the same people now.

Pretty much what I'm saying, except that I really doubt anything like all of that rump is made up of the popular picture of the eternal scrounger. Whatever about the reality behind those numbers, there are quadruple that number of people unemployed now, and twice that number of people out of work for a year or more, and yet all (or most) are bundled in with whatever number of genuine malingerers there are, and frequently treated as if they have carefully selected the easy life. It is not an easy, or a pleasant life.

Dowl88

Should do a programme how people can live on Berties and Biffos pension for a week.

House of Blaze

Dowl88 wrote: »

Should do a programme how people can live on Berties and Biffos pension for a week.

It's called Cribs.

InReality

cloud493 wrote: »

Ah yes, I remember. A descendant of Winston Churchill, and the bloke who played Les on coronation street if I recall.

Churchill's lad went off to a hotel . the other guy had been a real "get a job" head , and had made money his first day and was quite chuffed with himself.
He was wrecked after spending that night on the streets though and made nothing the next day.