Cost of living crisis: Sinn Féin pushes for €50-a-week rise to help jobless fight cost-of-living crisis

46 comments
  1. If only there was another way of jobless people earing more money. *Disclaimer people I’m employment are under paid and facing huge costs too.

  2. This woman must be running the Today Fm cash machine. Seems to think she can just create it and throw it everywhere

  3. This is what I’d be worried about at the next election.

    I want change, and the country needs change. And my intention is to use Sinn Féin as a vehicle to get the change we need as a country, but also to signal my disapproval of the Government parties.

    But this sort of thing is holding me back. There is no justification for anyone in this country choosing not to work. There is a shortage of workers, and incentivising people who refuse to work to continue to do so – at the expense of others – is _wrong_.

    The idea that decent working people who get up out of bed when it’s dark in the winter, do a forty hour week in a stressful job, and go home when it’s dark should have our taxes raised at a time of inflation and cost of living increases to fund a 25% pay rise for people who refuse to work – and who in many instances have never bothered to work in their lives – is insanity.

    If those who live off the hard work of others don’t think the money we’re donating goes as far these days and they’d like more money, there’s a very simple way of immediately doubling their weekly income and there’s 5,000 of them available in Ireland this morning.

    Ireland desperately needs a party for workers.

  4. Unless you’re impacted from being able to work either physically, mentally or in education there is no reason you should be unemployed right now.

  5. Maybe go get a job, this is one of the reasons the country is fucked. You don’t need to work and you will still get by.

  6. Isn’t it fkng amazing how they fight for this but not extra money for people on disability who actually need the extra money to cover basic medical costs

    This is infuriating

  7. It’s probably worth adding for context, there are 113k unemployed in Ireland. If all were to get an extra €50 per week this would come to €294m per year

    According to statistics there are 918k people over 65. All of these people getting an equivalent pension increase would cost €2,386m

    Usual caveats apply including the fact that not all the unemployed are entitled to jobseekers and not all over 65s are entitled to a state pension. However unemployment is at a 21 year low and we have an aging population so expect both cohorts to increase

  8. I have no bother giving more to people with disabilities, carers, pensioners, but there is no reason why anyone who is on the dole right now can’t get a job other than utter fecklessness. Sinn Fein can feck right off with this policy change.

  9. Have to disagree with them on this one. Working away and no talk of tax breaks or any other incentives for workers during this high cost period.

  10. Wife and I work out holes off and get taxed to fuck. Where’s the fuckn help for the middle. No allowances, no rent aid, no social aid of any kind.
    I like working, I like paying my way. It allows me to live they way I want to.

    The systemic abuse of the social welfare system needs to be fixed.

    Get a job, not a handout.

  11. Government too lax on long term unemployed. I used to work in an unemployment centre. Same faces one week on a course for this the next on a course for that all to get that box ticked. No strategy to actually move into work.

    You should be assigned a job after being x number of years. If you don’t do it you get nothing just like any other job.

    Why can’t long term unemployed be helpers for tidy towns? Get out and pick up some rubbish or something useful. Much better for your spirits to be doing something.

  12. If I lived rent free with my parents I’d feel no incentive to work if the alternative is low paid hospitality or retail or entry level anything.

  13. Jobseekers is where most people have an issue with people not willing to work but when social welfare is mentioned everyone that falls under it get attacked as lazy and don’t want to work while forgetting disability and pensioners fall under social welfare. €400 a week people really struggle to put food on the table pay bills etc I honestly don’t know how people sustain a living on €208 who are genuinely disabled or over 65.

  14. Yeah I don’t agree with this. I work 40 hours a week, wheres my €50 a week? Instead I get a pay rise, with 52% of it taxed.

  15. Has anyone ever actually lived on €208 a week? It’s a miserable existence. €258 would just make it a slightly less miserable existence.

    Tax the rich, tax the multi billion euro yank corporations, give something to the low and middle income earners.

    Stop voting for fucking FF/FG.

    SF getting my vote 100%.

  16. I agree with the goal, but I’d prefer to see measures to reduce the cost of living instead. Put the money into subsidies for essential foods, child care, public transport etc. And take steps to reverse the crazy rise in rent prices. That way the low and mid earners can benefit as well as the unemployed.

  17. Reluctant future SF voter here..

    Don’t link this at all. As echoed below, I work like a dog and entitled to fuck all. Help the middle, there’s tons of work or courses to upskill for anyone who could be arsed.

  18. People are forgetting that every benefit hangs on this “jobless” rate, Illness benefit, disability, etc. are all derived from this rate, so this is not just about unemployable scrotes.

    These people are just like you but have hit a bump in the road. It could happen to you too.

  19. There’s not enough people for all the jobs available at the moment, no excuse for people to be on long term dole or job seekers if healthy and able to work

  20. I work 900 hours a week as an assistant moaner and I’d be better off on the dole. I wish all people on government handouts would go into a hole somewhere and die. My friend on the dole has 10 PlayStations and drinks wine all day long and here’s me barely scraping by. That’s the problem with this country, these people on disability, like hello get a job!.

  21. Okay, but what about the rest of us on Disability/Invalidity? Are we not also deserving of a boost? It’s the same crisis for all of us…

  22. I’m from NI and feel your pain. Handouts for heating, and I know it went on beer and up the nose. You don’t work you dont get. There’s people out there that work as a postal causal at Xmas every year to say look I worked but it stopped.

  23. Why not cut tax for low and middle income workers instead of giving more money to those who can’t be bothered to get a job? ….. maybe … just maybe?

  24. I’m not paying people who are on the dole long term more money at a time of full unemployment. Fuck off.

    I am happy to subsidise workers on low wages. Workers.

  25. I like everything that SF stand for … except this.

    I want low and middle earners getting help, not job seekers. They want to be more comfortable? Start working, there are actually plenty of jobs out there.

    Those who work but are really struggling to get by deserve more help.

  26. Honestly, this wouldn’t put me up nor down, but ffs they should really up the minimum wage if that’s what they’re gunna do, cause at that point working 40 hours a week on minimum wage would bring home not much more than 100 euro more than being on the dole working 0 hours

  27. How people live on 205 quid is just incredible. Remember that petrol station picture from 2016 on here, diesel was €1.16 on the sign , it’s now €1.99. Social welfare hasn’t really changed since then, it was €189.00 back in 2016, it’s 2.05 now. So under 20 adjustment in half a decade.

    Anyone begrudging those people fifty euro needs their head examined, you’re also not a “left wing” , or up for workers , you’re a Tory knob!

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