Dole 'summer bonus' .. are they for real?

Well said, really quite shocking the lack of any compassion or understanding, I'm fortunate in that medications are available but horrendously expensive and very grateful to have a MC, there are many in far worse situations than I and its not so wrong to offer assistance, support and guidance to those who need it.

A lot of what I learned about the SW system is self thought during the Pandemic, I'm no expert but researched when it became apparent many, many people on Boards were new to SW with regard to PUP and illness supports on the state benefits Forum, some genuinely difficult situations. I didn't have to help, was working from home, was on PUP for a while but was happy to help along with more experienced posters including Mods with direct knowledge. It takes very little to show some compassion and understanding to people in difficulties.

I'm not for a second saying there's no need for reform or indeed abuses take place but assuming every person on SW is a scrounger or there's rampant fraud is just a shocking and appalling attitude to have.

Anyway well said on your Post 😉

In Australia during the pandemic the government were supplying the people with 42 inch televisions to get them to stay at home. An Aussie mate sent me a link to their Dept of Social Services website and he had a choice of 4 different TVs to pick from. iirc the allowance they had was $600, if they wanted something more expensive than that they had to top it up themselves

The proportion of main applicants whose employment status is ‘unemployed and in receipt of social welfare’ has been declining year-on-year from 59.8% in 2016, however the majority of main applicants remain in this category. In 2021, 31,541 households or just over half (53.2%) fell into this category, which is a decrease of just under 1 percentage point compared to 2020 (54.0%), as shown in Table 2.2.

Put that in your solid.

We know of course its absurd, met a, lovely lady last week, renting a property for 17 years, property sold, notice to quit, now living on a friends sofa, 52 years of age, separated, slightly above threshold for social housing but applied in desperation, now on housing list, can't find anywhere to rent, she reckons she'll be pension age before being offered a house. Lives in a town in Tipp.

• The employment status of most qualified households remains as unemployed and in receipt of social/community welfare benefit (54.0% compared to 54.4% in 2019) and the largest proportion of households continue to have an income source from social welfare only (59.2% in 2020 compared to 60.3% in 2019).

Is qualified enough??

What more do you want?e

You are trying to split hairs as the evidence you need is right there

Appalling story, I mentioned it earlier 😳

A so fully employed applicants are automatically fraudulent, is there honestly any cohort in Irish Society you don't think is scamming, perhaps monks 🙄

I referred to fully employed applicants (16. 8 K)) in 2021, you then come back and ask have I a number for fraudulent ones, straight to the scamming narrative.

😂😂😂

The pot calling the kettle Black 🤔

Your post is pure nonsense. Oh what I say is factual, are you going to claim that none of the money we spend on dole/benefits is wasted?

I have no opinion on MNC tax avoidance nor farmer's grants.

I dislike the idea of an able minded and bodied person choosing life long SW dependency as a lifestyle.

I have just lit some incense and am totally relaxed, baby.

The government does not have an unlimited amount of money therefore they need to choose what we should and shouldnt spend more money on. Some people think what we spend on benefits and dole is too high, people are allowed to have this opinion.

I'm not questioning anyone having an opinion, simply pointing out the issues you raise are entirely separate matters.

I could easily have thrown in other issues, housing, healthcare, waiting lists, refugee crisis etc, I'd be a week adding comparisons to push my argument and stance.

The narrative of this thread can't be justified by using whataboutery and especially genuine crisis effecting irish society when the narrative has nothing to do with offering ideas, debate, discussion or solutions, it's a click baiting exercise to encourage like minded people make generalised judgements of people getting SW. OP didn't anticipate not all or many agree with the nonsense as laid out in Title Thread.

We have people on the dole for many years that are fully capable of getting a job. We have people on the dole who also do odd jobs for cash in hand. We have people in council houses that aren't paying their rent. Nobody with common sense would say these things don't happen. I agree these people are a minority but they do exist

I don't doubt anything you've said in this post but this is not the narrative clearly encouraged by this Thread, there's been some scurrilous, nasty, outrageous and downright false comments made on this and other threads like it. That's what I'll call out and make no apology for doing so.

Yes there is sometimes sw bashing posts across threads but there's also many posts that simply point out the fact that due to incompetence Ireland allows many people to take advantage of SW benefits