Occupy Galway Group (mod note added)

Niall0001

Either way, if the appaling levels of absenteeism in the HSE were even so much as halved it would save the state €100m a year. Absenteeism full stop costs the state €1 billion a year.

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=18174

So those lucky enough to HAVE jobs cost the state almost a quarter of what the unemployed do through not bothering their arses turning up. Social welfare payments are expected to DECREASE this year also. In either event, pensionsers, children, widowers & the ill cost the state EVEN MORE than the unemployed.

http://economic-incentives.blogspot.com/2011/12/social-welfare-expenditure-to-fall-by.html

Fuinseog

Niall0001 wrote: »

"...with an average of 10pc absenteeism on any given day"

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-today-with-our-country-in-ruins-we-are-still-importing-fishermen-from-half-a-world-away-3000653.html

if its in the indo it must be true. If Myers wrote it its definitely true cos he is really in touch with reality.
I suppose nurses and ambulance drivers are among these wasters and dossers in the HSE who are earnig 'too much money'.

Head The Wall

Fuinseog wrote: »

who has nothing and who and how are they being penalised?
HSE employees are getting pay cuts every year and still have to pay massive mortgages. maybe they should just throw in towel and chill out in the square.

HSE Employee's are getting increments so you are completely in the wrong to say they are getting pay cuts every year.

Fuinseog wrote: »

if its in the indo it must be true. If Myers wrote it its definitely true cos he is really in touch with reality.
I suppose nurses and ambulance drivers are among these wasters and dossers in the HSE who are earnig 'too much money'.

You know someone has no argument when they throw the poor nurses into the debate, there are also no ambulance drivers in the HSE.

The 6000 excess admin staff and 1000 excess HR staff in the HSE are all getting overpaid by 100%

antoobrien

ladhrann wrote: »

There is some confusion here I think over 'dole, UA, UB' etc., the payments are Jobseeker's Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance, both have a maximum individual rate of E188 per week.

True, but you can't just say that the €188 payment is all somebody gets when on the dole as many people get multiple benefits. It does make it hard to put accurate figures on the true monetary benefits that a person on JA/JB get.

padraig47

lobes wrote: »

Saturday 28th January:

"Br€aking Our Bond$" Street Parade
from Occupy Galway, Eyre Square @ 1pm

http://www.notourdebt.ie/

orangebud wrote: »

you could have waited till after the Liverpool V Man utd game
i call in after 2 show my support

Total waste of time. Causing noise pollution.

Marches in Galway are only ego trips and annoy the general population.

It is time to take down that mess in Eyre square.
It is achieving NOTHING.

hippygran no longer posts here so I'm wondering, is there any actual representative of the urban camping movement still posting in this thread?

ladhrann

antoobrien wrote: »

True, but you can't just say that the €188 payment is all somebody gets when on the dole as many people get multiple benefits. It does make it hard to put accurate figures on the true monetary benefits that a person on JA/JB get.

If you review my earlier post on the thread, I make a particular distinction between various payments and the link with personal circumstances.

The point of my post was to clarify the current situation with regard to D.S.P. payments and what each is for and also to dispel the misinformation quite current that all or even most individuals signing are in receipt of multiple payments.

In practice it is quite difficult to qualify for additional payments, i.e. Fuel Allowance is only payable after 390 claim paid days, and it must be applied for manually for instance.

Payments such as Rent Supplement etc. are subject to long waiting periods.

Furthermore a specific point I made about protest movements is that they are largely composed of, young, male and single members. Such individuals are highly unlikely to be in receipt of an increased payment.

In the case of individuals under 21, the payment is E100 p/w and in the case of those under 25 it is E144.

Given an earlier piece on the increase in DSP payments up to year ending 2007, I wanted to clarify the decrease in payments since then and also the flaws in the argument that payments had decreased at a slower rate than (apparent) deflation.

antoobrien

ladhrann wrote: »

I
The point of my post was to clarify the current situation with regard to D.S.P. payments and what each is for and also to dispel the misinformation quite current that all or even most individuals signing are in receipt of multiple payments.

I may be wrong about this but I believe some of the the lower rates / not full rates are for new recipients and under 21s only so many people in receipt before these measures were brought in were not affected.

Also I'd like to point out that I didn't say all or most I said many, there is quite a large difference in meaning there.

Ye, as you have pointed out, there are waiting times for various allowances, but since there are 90,000 + people/households receiving rent allowance it's likely that at least some of the 400k+ people on the live register will be receiving this benefit. The same goes for the other benefits.

So in the spirit of discussion, would you like to put some figures up here for those unemployed that like those that are:
a) not receiving the full €188/week payment
b) those of a that are working up to the 3 day week limit with SW supplementing their income
c) numbers getting fuel, rent or other allowances

Or maybe you have some other numbers you'd like to contribute.

ladhrann

antoobrien wrote: »

I may be wrong about this but I believe some of the the lower rates / not full rates are for new recipients and under 21s only so many people in receipt before these measures were brought in were not affected.

This would be the case for someone signing on continuously since 2007. The number of individuals signing on for this length of time i.e. 5 years now would be quite low, as a proportion of the whole.

There would be no under-21 year old receiving a full-rate, as the reduced rates applied since before the emergency budget in 2008. This was almost four years ago.

antoobrien wrote: »

Also I'd like to point out that I didn't say all or most I said many, there is quite a large difference in meaning there.

I am aware of this. I did not refer to you specifically in my comment.

antoobrien wrote: »

Ye, as you have pointed out, there are waiting times for various allowances, but since there are 90,000 + people/households receiving rent allowance it's likely that at least some of the 400k+ people on the live register will be receiving this benefit. The same goes for the other benefits.

I concur, however by the same logic even if every one of the 90k receiving Rent Supplement were on the Register then over 80% of individuals on the Live Register, would not be in receipt of the payment. As you've put it, it is payable to households in the main and not individuals.

antoobrien wrote: »

So in the spirit of discussion, would you like to put some figures up here for those unemployed that like those that are:
a) not receiving the full €188/week payment
b) those of a that are working up to the 3 day week limit with SW supplementing their income
c) numbers getting fuel, rent or other allowances

Or maybe you have some other numbers you'd like to contribute.

There are a number of difficulties with that. Firstly I am not a data-miner or statistician.

The way the statistics are generated makes it quite difficult to divide numbers by subsets. I'll give you an example, we have a gross number who receive Fuel Allowance, which is a means-tested payment made to those in receipt of a payment on a long-term basis. However this number includes those on the Live Register, Pensioners (Contributory & Non-Contributory), Disability Allowance, Single Parent Family Payment, Widow's & Orphans Payment to further confuse matters it is also payable to those in receipt of a Benefit who opt for a means-test.

I may be able to get more concise figures at a later point.

antoobrien

ladhrann wrote: »

There would be no under-21 year old receiving a full-rate, as the reduced rates applied since before the emergency budget in 2008. This was almost four years ago.

This wasn't introduced in 2008 as my brother (who was 19 at the time and had never been in a proper job) received the full payment until means testing came in. This was sometime in 2009, can't remember exactly when. The outburst of they've cut my dole was funny was so funny it took us a few minutes to catch our breath before asking for a refund on our PRSI contributions.

ladhrann

antoobrien wrote: »

This wasn't introduced in 2008 as my brother (who was 19 at the time and had never been in a proper job) received the full payment until means testing came in.

I'm afraid I don't understand this case. Reduced rate payments have always applied for different age groups living at home. Jonseeker's Allowance has always been means-tested. Plainly your relative must not have been on a means-tested payment, and instead was receiving a Benefit linked to his PRSI contributions.

antoobrien

ladhrann wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't understand this case. Reduced rate payments have always applied for different age groups living at home. Jonseeker's Allowance has always been means-tested. Plainly your relative must not have been on a means-tested payment, and instead was receiving a Benefit linked to his PRSI contributions.

Doubt it, he had no PRSI contributions that I'm aware of. It could have been because it took so long to actually apply the means test, but I'm pretty sure it because he was already on the benefit when the reductions for u21 came into force.

antoobrien

ladhrann wrote: »

There would be no under-21 year old receiving a full-rate, as the reduced rates applied since before the emergency budget in 2008. This was almost four years ago.

The Supplementary budget was in 2009

lobes

"Occupy Galway present a night of live music in aid of Cope & The Samaritans Galway at Monroe's Bar this Wednesday, February 1st.
Both of these charities are overworked and underfunded in these times of austerity so please come along and support them.

21.00 till late..

Line up:
Cian Finn
West of Ireland born & based vocalist. His style of singing & songwriting has influences from Soul, Blues & Reggae.

Sumbrellas
The music is a mix of Irish Traditional, Americana, and Country Swing. Sumbrellas have a unique sound with heartfelt soul and a blend of elegant musical tones combined with a swamp stomp boom.
The Sumbrellas are currently working on their first album with new members Ciara Delaney from Belfast with powerful and effective singing and Finbar Campbell laying down a sweet country swing b-bender guitar.

The Rye
A gig with The Rye is high-spirited, full-blown entertainment. Not only does the band have that really fantastic ability to make even a stone statue tap its feet, they also have amazing stage energy and presence that makes it difficult to turn away once they start performing...this band has talent dripping from their fingertips. They are each fantastic at what they do, and most importantly, they seem to enjoy that fact.

5 Euro Donation on the Door, all proceeds to charity"

ladhrann

antoobrien wrote: »

Doubt it, he had no PRSI contributions that I'm aware of. It could have been because it took so long to actually apply the means test, but I'm pretty sure it because he was already on the benefit when the reductions for u21 came into force.

It is illustrative of the fact that all payments are made based on individual circumstances. No payment can be made without a means test by either a Community Welfare Officer under the H.S.E., or by a Deciding Officer of the D.S.P. It may be that the payment in question was altered as a result of a change of circumstances. All claims are re-visited at set (6 months/12 months etc.) intervals by a Social Welfare Inspector.

A means test has always applied for any Allowance. Before the reduction of the maximum rate for under-25s, a Board & Lodging deduction was made for all claimants under 25 living at home. The Board and Lodging deduction was ceased in 2009 and replaced with the reduced rates for all those of a certain age cohort i.e. under 21, and 21-24.

In relation to PRSI contributions, certain payments i.e. Occupational Injury Benefit have a reduced level of contributions needed in order to claim. This is in oder to allow those who suffer an injury early in working life to receive a payment.

Dan_Solo

Niall0001 wrote: »

How's about someone starts pointing fingers at the untouchable wages of 110,000 HSE employees (thanks to the Croke Park agreement), of which 10% don't even show up for work on any given day, instead of blaming those who have nothing & penalising them time & time again?

If there's 250 working days in the years and you get 20 days holidays and let's say 5 sick days, that's 10% gone right there.
So maybe they don't turn up as that's pretty much normal for any job, public or private sector?

padraig47

Is this a post about occupy Galway. Or a post of how to get money from the taxpayers ?

antoobrien

Dan_Solo wrote: »

If there's 250 working days in the years and you get 20 days holidays and let's say 5 sick days, that's 10% gone right there.
So maybe they don't turn up as that's pretty much normal for any job, public or private sector?

Absenteeism is defined as showing not up when you're supposed to - an acknowledged severe problem in certain parts of the HSE.

Dan_Solo

antoobrien wrote: »

Absenteeism is defined as showing up when you're not supposed to

Er, you might want to rephrase that mate.:D

antoobrien

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Er, you might want to rephrase that mate.:D

cringe

That's what being able to speak 3 languages and not being able to write in any of them gets you;)

fintanforde

i cant understand how this camp is allowed to be active on the main public square in galway. in mullingar the council provide halting sites for these people. have the authorities no respect for these people?

Irishgoatman

fintanforde wrote: »

i cant understand how this camp is allowed to be active on the main public square in galway. in mullingar the council provide halting sites for these people. have the authorities no respect for these people?

Just in case you don't know, halting sites are for travellers!
These people, as you call them, are protesters.

Just a slight difference!!.

Fuinseog

lobes wrote: »

"Occupy Galway present a night of live music in aid of Cope & The Samaritans Galway at Monroe's Bar this Wednesday, February 1st.
Both of these charities are overworked and underfunded in these times of austerity so please come along and support them.

21.00 till late..

Line up:
Cian Finn
West of Ireland born & based vocalist. His style of singing & songwriting has influences from Soul, Blues & Reggae.

Sumbrellas
The music is a mix of Irish Traditional, Americana, and Country Swing. Sumbrellas have a unique sound with heartfelt soul and a blend of elegant musical tones combined with a swamp stomp boom.
The Sumbrellas are currently working on their first album with new members Ciara Delaney from Belfast with powerful and effective singing and Finbar Campbell laying down a sweet country swing b-bender guitar.

The Rye
A gig with The Rye is high-spirited, full-blown entertainment. Not only does the band have that really fantastic ability to make even a stone statue tap its feet, they also have amazing stage energy and presence that makes it difficult to turn away once they start performing...this band has talent dripping from their fingertips. They are each fantastic at what they do, and most importantly, they seem to enjoy that fact.

5 Euro Donation on the Door, all proceeds to charity"

did anyone go to this?
which charity did the proceeds go to?
how much in donations did they receive?

Fuinseog

fintanforde wrote: »

i cant understand how this camp is allowed to be active on the main public square in galway. in mullingar the council provide halting sites for these people. have the authorities no respect for these people?

no facilities have been provided either. where does the rubbish go? where do they go for toilet breaks or to have a shower?

Redhairedguy

Fuinseog wrote: »

where do they go for toilet breaks or to have a shower?

Their own homes from what I understand...

Fuinseog

Redhairedguy wrote: »

Their own homes from what I understand...

I understood they were there on a permanent basis or do they do shifts?

I would be interested in hearing how the gig in Monroes went. its one thing holding something like that, but given what they do is for the people its nice to hear of the outcome-how much was made, to whom it was donated etc(donated to charity is a bit vague, which one and why?).

Irishgoatman

Fuinseog wrote: »

I understood they were there on a permanent basis or do they do shifts?

I would be interested in hearing how the gig in Monroes went. its one thing holding something like that, but given what they do is for the people its nice to hear of the outcome-how much was made, to whom it was donated etc(donated to charity is a bit vague, which one and why?).

I can't help you out with how much they raised but as far as to where the money is going to, did you not read the first line of their post telling us all about the gig?.

You quoted it in full but, obviously, you didn't bother to read it.
Too much of a hurry to try to find fault with them perhaps?

Fuinseog

Irishgoatman wrote: »

I can't help you out with how much they raised but as far as to where the money is going to, did you not read the first line of their post telling us all about the gig?.

You quoted it in full but, obviously, you didn't bother to read it.
Too much of a hurry to try to find fault with them perhaps?

You have me there. Again I could be wrong and I probably am, but his is not their first gig. They had some kind of shindig in Richardsons of late. Does anyone know how much was taken there?
is the OG group a protest group or a group that collects for charity?
while the intentions are noble just how many groups collecting for charity do we need?

lobes

7pm Monday 6th Feb 2012 - NUIG
“...This year's theme is inspired historically by Dadaism, which defies and challenges the meaning of art, and takes influence from the new hope of our generation to change the world. The air is full of promise that there can be a new world - a world of unrestrained, uncensored mass two-way communication, facilitated by networking on the internet and by uprisings and protest on the streets. "Derelicte" seeks to represent the indefatigable spirit of our moment, epitomised by Time Magazine's person of the year - The Protestor.”
http://www.muscailt.nuigalway.ie/events/?d=1&event=181

Red_Wake

Fuinseog wrote: »

You have me there. Again I could be wrong and I probably am, but his is not their first gig. They had some kind of shindig in Richardsons of late. Does anyone know how much was taken there?
is the OG group a protest group or a group that collects for charity?
while the intentions are noble just how many groups collecting for charity do we need?

Personally, I would be very uncomfortable about giving money to a group like OG.