THE COMING budget is being viewed with dread by many but one sector that’s seriously worried is the working poor. It has become a daily struggle for people on low incomes who have suffered pay-cuts and are asked to fork out for property charges and soon to be faced with the prospect of water charges. People who are falling behind with their mortgages or going without basics to pay their home loans can see no way out of the poverty trap.
A shocking report this week from children and family advocacy group, Barnardos states that one in ten people on a low-income goes hungry. This group includes people on social welfare, one-parent families and now, families where one or both parents are working but are frequently too broke to put a proper meal on the table.
Social Justice Ireland has published an analysis of figures from the Central Statistics Office which shows that more than 220,000 children are now at risk of poverty and, somewhat surprisingly, more than one in six of the people at risk of poverty are in employment.
Working people are robbing Peter to pay Paul on a regular basis, frantically trying to give themselves and their children some quality of life while living under the threat of further cuts and charges.
Worst off of all are the self-employed when their businesses go under as they are left without the safety net of welfare benefit and have to throw themselves on the mercy of local welfare officers.
Meanwhile, the government is standing back from an outrageous situation where retired bankers are being paid huge pensions, despite the debacle which they have presided over and the fact that ordinary citizens and small businesses are paying through the nose for the bank bailout.
The coalition says its hands are tied by legislation which protects the bankers. The government is the legislature. So let them legislate.
