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Posts tagged benefits
Opposition parties criticise Bord Snip recommendations
Jul 16th
Opposition parties have given a mixed reaction to the contents of the Bord Snip Nua report, which recommends around €5.3 billion worth of public spending cuts.
Fine Gael’s Richard Bruton broadly welcomed the report, but said it wasn’t perfect.
“The notion that you would seek to charge the most vulnerable people for their medicines is something that will shock people,” Mr Bruton said, in reference to the board’s controversial recommendation to introduce a €5 charge for those previously receiving free prescriptions.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the report was written by people who have no experience of poverty
His view was echoed by Sinn Fein TD Aengus O’Snodaigh, who said the Government and the author of the report, Colm McCarthy, are out of touch with reality.
Update:
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has appealed to the public to avoid “knee-jerk and defensive reactions” after the publication of today’s report by An Bord Snip Nua.
The report, which lays out recommendation for one of the biggest planned cutbacks in the history of the State, urges 17,300 public sector lay-offs and has already drawn threats of a painful strike by public workers.
Unemployment in Ireland soars to second highest in EU-15 countries
Jul 14th
IRELAND has moved from having the second lowest unemployment rate among the EU-15 countries two years ago to the second highest, calculations from the OECD show.
Joblessness has risen faster in Ireland than anywhere else, reflecting the sudden collapse of the building boom.
The 11.7pc rate recorded for May is 85pc higher than the average for last year.
Unemployment Rate Reaches Record High
Jun 9th
The number of people on the Live Register hit 400,000 for the first time last month.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, there are now 402,100 people on the Live Register seeking unemployment benefit or allowances.
It is the first time the numbers on the dole have ever reached this level. It translates into an unemployment rate of 11.8%.
The mid-east counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow recorded the highest proportionate increases in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the past year, Central Statistics Office figures show.
During the year to May, there has been an unadjusted increase of 195, 115 joining the Live Register, a rise of 96.7 per cent.
The south-east region had the smallest percentage rise but that still amounted to an 83.2 per cent increase.
Limerick had the largest monthly rise of all counties, recording a 7.1 per cent increase while Kerry performed best with a decrease of 1.3 per cent.
The number of males joining the register rose in all regions over the month with the largest rise recorded in the mid-west (4.7 per cent) and the smallest in the midlands (2.2 per cent).
The largest percentage rise in females signing on was recorded in the south east at 5.9 per cent, while the smallest percentage increase was in the south-west region at 1.8 per cent.
In May, there were 317,794 Irish nationals and 79,077 non-Irish nationals on
the Live Register. This represents a monthly increase of 11,196 or 3.7 per cent in Irish
nationals and 1,227 or 1.6 per cent in non-Irish nationals.