Padraig Malone of Limerick’s Centre for the Unemployed, has never seen people as worried about the budget
PEOPLE have never been as worried as they are about the upcoming budget, warns Padraig Malone of Limerick’s Centre for the Unemployed.
“They are particularly annoyed that social welfare is set to be reduced, while there are unlimited funds for the banks”.
Members of the centre which is affiliated to ICTU (The Irish Congress of Trade Unions), will head to Dublin this Saturday November 27, for the A Fairer and Better Way demonstration.
“People simply have to stand up for themselves, we need tens of thousands on the street to let TDs know what they are doing”.
Brid O’Brien of the INOU (The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed), pointed to four key areas.
“Social welfare payments and support need to be maintained, a jobs strategy needs to be introduced, effective retraining services need to be put in place, and the tax base needs to be broadened”.
The INOU are very concerned that many unemployed are going on courses of little or no benefit.
She also said that there was a need to address the issue of taxation as a form of sustainable income generation, as highlighted by the Commission for Taxation.
“There is too much of a concentration on cuts without thinking through the consequences.
“A lot of the new unemployed are carrying significant debt, particularly mortgages.
“Many are already living on the edge, and cuts in the budget could tip them over”.
Padraig Malone warned that the unemployed can no longer take the strain of further cuts.
“It reminds me of when we were children and were told that certain medicines were good for us, but they subsequently were not”.
The Limerick Unemployment Resource Centre, on Hunts Lane, he recalled, opened in 1987 during the last recession.
“The primary objective was to provide information and support to the newly unemployed, as well as to Inform people of their welfare rights and show them how to put together a CV”.
He stressed that during the good times many questioned the need for the unemployment centre.
“People forget that the live register never went below 130,000 during the Celtic Tiger.
“At the height of the boom, Limerick still had unemployment blackspots.
“We were lobbying for welfare policy and employment rights because we were aware that unemployment is cyclical”.
