There is a letter into the Independent today in which a person describes a friend of his who lost his job.
Person was previously earning €35,000 gross, €28,854 after tax.
Now person is unemployed. Receives supplementary welfare allowance for family of four children of €443.90 per week or €23,083 annually.
Mortgage interest supplement - in this case €14,400 per annum.
Back to school and footwear payment for 4 children - €905 annually.
Medical card - estimated at €500 annually - although likely to be more considering there are two adults and 4 children.
This gives a tax free annual income of €38,888 - an increase of €10,034 on previous income.
Is this possible??! This country will have serious trouble dragging itself out of the recession if these type of figures are not examined and reviewed by the Government. I know there are no easy answers but this seems to be a crazy unsustainable situation considering the growing number of people availing of benefits.