Another Dole increase

gaf1983

mad_shopaholic wrote: »

As for the internships they are slave labour to companies who otherwise might have hired someone if the scheme was not in place. Why cant the government offer the interships only in understaffed government departments such as hospitals etc which would give the people on the internship experience as well as the tax payers funding the interships a more efficient system with more staff!

Good idea. Many of government departments could do with the extra manpower to help make them more efficient, look at the delays in the passport office for example, and I even heard a SIPTU official during the week whining on behalf of his FÁS workers (the ones who want to hold onto their 70 days annual leave during their 2 years leading up to retirement) that their workload has increased substantially since the recessions. Why not give them a few interns to help speed their processes up?

Beer Baron wrote: »

Did you know that the Germans tried to ban social welfare recipients from gambling in the bookies. It didn't get them anywhere because the bookies said "It's cash, how do we know where they got the cash from" so the scheme didn't work out.

Could that problem be solved by giving people part-payment in food/clothing/other essential vouchers and part-payment in cash? Or maybe stick with cash payments but require all people to show an ID going into bookies, and if they're receiving benefits, have them on a database of people barred from betting? Obviously this brings in issues of restricting people's liberties...

Berty

I dunno gaf1983.

People on benefits do get things in non cash form as well. Only yesterday I had a tooth pulled for €80. The guy before me was signing the medical card form for the receptionist also for getting a tooth pulled. So thats €80 he received for having "benefits". Had that man only being receiving, lets say, €186 per week then he would only have €106 per week left for whatever he needs to pay for.

On matters of health I would prefer to see my taxes helping people just like that but when you pass a bookies or off license on "dole day" you think "why do we even fvcking bother?"

RE: Interns, Government departments, FAS retirement annual leave entitlements and anything else related to efficiencies or inefficiencies in the offices.

The problem is and always was the existence of Trade Unions.

Passport office was a "Work to Rule" and was staff and trade unions throwing toys out of the pram to get what they wanted. Closing the doors to the public at 1pm to process applications should have meant the passports were processed quicker. Oddly enough the process slowed down.

Providing MORE staff to already badly run government departments/semi states and quangos is simply "pissing into the wind".

fleabag

This is a great thread and fair play to the OP for setting it up. I moved to Limerick a year ago from Kerry to go to LIT (after being made redundant in 2009) and was a bit dubious at first but I have to say I love Limerick, think it's a great city with a nice vibe and I'm sad to see it lagging behind other places.

One of the iniatives that really seems to be working is the revitalisation of the Milk Market - on a Saturday it's packed with people out enjoying theselves and spending and now I notice they're trying the Friday Flea, not to mention the Thursday Craft Market. The market also has evening opening hours which is a great idea and something that tourists from the continent would be used to anyway.

I'd love to see this being made into a really first class market with the advantage of evening opening hours and with a virtually weather-proof canopy so that it could go on all year round. Sometimes there are a good few empty stalls which is always a sad sight at a market - wouldn't the owners be better of offering all stalls at cheaper rates or even free say for a month to get people started off? If the market was marketed properly you'd even have people travelling to Limerick for it and farmer's markets and the like have actually increased in the last two years.

And in the same vein why don't the owners of empty shops let them free of charge for a few months to help potential retailers get a leg up? A lot of art students from LSAD seem to avail of this for temporary exhibitions and it's great to see the shops being used for something. It's a shame this couldn't be done on a wide scale - sort of like the 'pop up shops' that are all the rage in trendy circles now.

Berty

fleabag wrote: »

And in the same vein why don't the owners of empty shops let them free of charge for a few months to help potential retailers get a leg up? A lot of art students from LSAD seem to avail of this for temporary exhibitions and it's great to see the shops being used for something. It's a shame this couldn't be done on a wide scale - sort of like the 'pop up shops' that are all the rage in trendy circles now.

No and here is why.

IF these landlords buildings get sucked into NAMA they are written down on the value of their current rents. I don't know the equation used to calculate the value against the rate of rent but there wont be a landlord who will let a buildling out for lets says €500 a week when it used to go for €2,000.

This is why agents were offering rents for 3 months free IF you took an 18 month contract.

osarusan

gaf1983 wrote: »

Could that problem be solved by giving people part-payment in food/clothing/other essential vouchers and part-payment in cash? Or maybe stick with cash payments but require all people to show an ID going into bookies, and if they're receiving benefits, have them on a database of people barred from betting? Obviously this brings in issues of restricting people's liberties...

As was mentioned before, this would be getting into curtailing individual freedoms.
Not only that, but if the bookies are off-limits for those on social welfare, surely the pub should be too. How about jewelry shops?

Putting these kinds of restrictions on individuals' right to spend their money would result in a list of places considered out of bound which, if fair, would have to include any kind of 'non-necessary' spending.

daisyscience

I thought that it was great that FAS is rebranding, even though thats not what they want to call it and they dont want us to see it that way. I went into their offices after finishing my degree, unable to find work like many others, and I was told to keep doing what I was doing as I was over qualified for any of their courses.

You cant qualify for Back To Education Alowance to do a Masters and on the dole, I cant save enough money to pay my way through college myself (having built up debts im still paying off whilst in college despite working several jobs). Ive never gotten the BTEA and when I was in college other mature students were getting it and the full grant aswell, thankfully they stopped that. It used to drive me nuts!!!!

Im too qualified for most of the jobs I apply for and havn't managed to get one interview despite sending out tonnes of CVs. The jobs in my area of degree that i do apply for are going to people with PHds and again, i dont even get to interview stage. I have started lying on my cv and pretending that I dont have half the exerience that I have so fingers crossed.

Of course leaving the country is a tempting option but my home is here. Meanwhile my state subsidised education is wasting away along with my faith in the system, Im sure im not the only one. It was a waste of time and money for myself, the lecturers etc. Sure theyre practically just training people to be on the dole or leave the country at this stage!!!

While getting a good education is important, I dont understand why they are still trying to encourage people to study on courses where there are no jobs. They talk about training people, upskilling etc in places like FAS but how many people like me are there out there??? Theres a shortagate of doctors, well why dont they offer people like me scholarships to become one and have to work for the state for a certain amount of years??? It shouldnt be easy, but the options should be there. Make people work hard for it to further their education, the current system is just too easy and seems like another thoughtless way to keep people busy and off the dole for another while.

daisyscience

Saying all the above id forgotten that I had applied for a part time course with Springboard and just got confirmation that ive gotten it, yay! It if in an area where there are jobs and I am also furthering my education. Sorry about the negative rant. Im much more optimistic now about getting off the dole and hopefully Springboard will help many others too.

LB6

SarahBeep! wrote: »

Jobs like that would soon get rid of the lazy people and make them get up and start looking for a job.

Don't be tarring everyone on the dole queue with the same "lazy" brush. Some - ok most - of them are there by design, the minority are there against their better wishes.

PG you won't have to join the dole queue and be considered LAZY!

Insect Overlord

To be fair, I don't for a minute believe Sarah was tarring everyone on the dole with the same brush. It should be obvious that her post was giving out about the people who are scrounging and playing the system, not the many decent people who are looking for work.

SarahBeep!

LB6 wrote: »

Don't be tarring everyone on the dole queue with the same "lazy" brush. Some - ok most - of them are there by design, the minority are there against their better wishes.

PG you won't have to join the dole queue and be considered LAZY!

I know people who are on the dole that have worked hard all their lives and now find themselves down on their luck through no fault of their own. I know people who are on the dole who have never even typed up a CV.

Of course there are people who don't want to be on the dole, I was out of work, on and off, for six months last year (I wasn't claiming because I'm a full time student) and it ablsolutly killed me!! I've been working since I was 14 and if I had to spend a long period of time on the dole I'd rather go out and sweep the streets because then I'd feel like I'd earned it and I know people my age who would say the same.

I also know people who would quite happily stay on the dole till the day they die, and they were on the dole loooooooooooong before times were hard.