Benefits and Sky TV/plasma's etc

Complainer said:
No need for that in my experience - just minding your own business has worked for me in any situation that I've been in.
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To be able to block out the sights and sounds around oneself and enter a world of ones own - and just not hear or see whats going on around you. Sounds about right.
 
I certainly could not survive on €196 per week. Fair play to anyone who can. I would imagine their "luxury items" are paid for by credit union loans. Apparently they dont look for proof of income etc so probably €20 or so goes to pay them back.

Truthseeker, no offence but your OH needs to find himself some voluntary activities to do. Keep his mind occupied and all of that.

Complainer, I also find minding my own business works well for me:) With exception to people elected to represent to me or those they nominate that is.
 
lightswitch said:
I certainly could not survive on €196 per week. Fair play to anyone who can.
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That all depends on your circumstances. If you have no mortgage or rent to pay then 196 per week is a very generous sum to get by on - you could easily get by on a lot less. Is the cost of living here really twice what it is in other countries, I don't think so! Anyway the bottom line is the country cannot afford to pay 196 per week.
 
lightswitch said:
Truthseeker, no offence but your OH needs to find himself some voluntary activities to do. Keep his mind occupied and all of that.
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lol, my OH tells me of one incident that he couldnt help but overhear, I tell it here and Ive people saying he needs to mind his own business and he needs to get some voluntary activities! Its a funny old world. He is kept very busy I assure you.
 
orka said:
I agree with the OP. I made similar points on the overseas aid thread - if someone on benefits can afford cigarettes, alcohol, sky/tv, holidays or a car, then they are receving too much money from the state. If you were in a greenfield situation setting up a new welfare system, the necessities are food, shelter, clothing, medical care and education - anything else is a luxury that may be provided when times are good but shouldn't be when times are bad when the state can't afford it.
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I fully agree with your list of necessities, but I would imagine that controlling what various social welfare payments are used for would cost more than it would save, not to mention creating a whole new level of bureaucracy.
I disagree though that any luxeries should ever be taken into a calculation; not in the bad times or the good times.

umop3p!sdn said:
Why?
These people are just taking advantage of the situation put in place by the government. If anyone, your 'main dig' should be towards the TDs of this country.

If someone was to offer me free money, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it either.
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This is a good point. All that the welfare system of the last half a century has achieved is to breed a mentality of "entitlement". There was a time when people would only accept a government cheque if it was abolutely necessary; people would do anything to earn a living rather than receive a handout from the state.

Protocol said:
Don't cut benefits - cut the duration of benefits.

No lifetime JSA.

JSA of 5 yrs max across your lifetime.
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This would at least be a start.
Personally I believe that the biggest problem is that there is very little incentive to take a job, not the amount of money being paid out. JSA is €196 a week, while a minimum wage job pays about €350 a week (minus PRSI?). That effectively means that you get paid about €3.50 an hour by not being on the dole, not to mention any other benefit "entitlements" lost.
If you are receiving welfare benefits you should be made work for it. You could start with 10 hours a week after 6 months, 20 after 9 months, and so on.
Such a system has worked relatively well in Germany since its introduction.
 
truthseeker said:
lol, my OH tells me of one incident that he couldnt help but overhear, I tell it here and Ive people saying he needs to mind his own business and he needs to get some voluntary activities! Its a funny old world. He is kept very busy I assure you.
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Not too busy that he is not available for work I hope? After all it is job seekers he is claiming. To ordinary workers like myself he may seem to look like a welfare scrounger that we are propping up, did he ever think of that? He is at the end of the day no different to anyone else on that queue.
 
lightswitch said:
He is at the end of the day no different to anyone else on that queue.
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What a ridiculous arrogant statement

Plenty of people on the dole queue who have been paying taxes for years and now find themselves redundant and trying to live on €196 per week

And you claim that they are the same as those who never bother to work during the good times when we had to import people from around the world to fill job vacancies
 
DB74 said:
What a ridiculous arrogant statement

Plenty of people on the dole queue who have been paying taxes for years and now find themselves redundant and trying to live on €196 per week

And you claim that they are the same as those who never bother to work during the good times when we had to import people from around the world to fill job vacancies
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I disagree on the grounds that I do not make judgements on people claiming the dole, unlike others who have posted on here. We had virtually no unemployment during the boom, 2 or 3% as far as I recall.

As for importing people, if we had taken things more slowly and didn't "import" people, we would not have the mess we have now.

We are still "importing" people now by the way and there is nothing for them to do here.
 
DB74 said:
What a ridiculous arrogant statement

Plenty of people on the dole queue who have been paying taxes for years and now find themselves redundant and trying to live on €196 per week

And you claim that they are the same as those who never bother to work during the good times when we had to import people from around the world to fill job vacancies
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Absolutely , nobody has the right to judge anybody on the dole queue based on assumptions.

Perhap's the OP's OH should have operated on the same principle ?
 
Just because we had "virtually no unemployment" during the boom doesn't mean that there weren't people doing nothing who could have been out working.

And the OP didn't make a judgement on everybody on the dole (as you did whether you like it or not) but on one particular person in one particluar dole queue based predominantly on what they said

Also I appreciate that "import" is the wrong word to use but I felt the need to get my point across rather than worry about the semantics of the occasion. But thanks for pointing it out anyway!
 
truthseeker said:
Possibly. But unlikely. He was early 20s. He was dressed in the 'uniform' of shiny tracksuit bottoms and football jersey, tattoos extending up to be visible on the neck, and the hollow chested stoop that one associates with drug abuse.
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The judgement was made on this person......... Maybe it just me but this guy certainly doesn't sound like he has the kind of lifestyle I would aspire to............... More to be pitied than criticised in my opinion, would say the boom just passed him by, he may not even know it ever happened by the posters discription.
 
Deiseblue said:
Absolutely , nobody has the right to judge anybody on the dole queue based on assumptions.
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Why not - people make personal judgements all day everyday - its part of being human. The only end this particular judgement was going to was in my OHs head!! Its not like he was off making a report to the Peoples Republic on the guy!!

The way people are carrying on here youd swear that they dont have any casual conversation with their partners regarding their day and what they did or saw or whatever.
 
lightswitch said:
The judgement was made on this person......... Maybe it just me but this guy certainly doesn't sound like he has the kind of lifestyle I would aspire to............... More to be pitied than criticised in my opinion, would say the boom just passed him by, he may not even know it ever happened by the posters discription.
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Then that guy is certainly different to my OH or many other people on the guy - passing judgement much there lightswitch?
 
truthseeker said:
Why not - people make personal judgements all day everyday - its part of being human. The only end this particular judgement was going to was in my OHs head!! Its not like he was off making a report to the Peoples Republic on the guy!!

The way people are carrying on here youd swear that they dont have any casual conversation with their partners regarding their day and what they did or saw or whatever.
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I agree, but not a very nice aspect of being human. The guy you refer to has no real prospects by the sounds of him. Anyway, enough from me, people to do and things to see and all of that.

Have a good day all :).
 
lightswitch said:
I agree, but not a very nice aspect of being human.
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Whats not nice about it? Do you think the guy in question actually cares what people think of him? If he did would he have shouted mobile phone conversations about his drug use in the social welfare office? Would it be better if he did care - then maybe he would clean up his act a little?

If you want people to pass 'nice' judgements on you then thats in your control.
 
truthseeker said:
lol, my OH tells me of one incident that he couldnt help but overhear, I tell it here and Ive people saying he needs to mind his own business and he needs to get some voluntary activities! Its a funny old world. He is kept very busy I assure you.
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Good for him ;) :D
 
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