Minister wants people to work for their dole

GETTING people on the dole to work 19½ hours a week for their money, was suggested by the new Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív, as he met with Fianna Fáil members in Ennis last Friday.
The minister stressed that what he was saying wasn’t policy as yet, but was something to be looked at and examined further.
He said that the State is spending €2.7 billion on unemployment benefit and a further €1.5 billion on jobseeker’s allowance.
“We’re spending €4.2 billion and saying stay at home and do nothing,” he said.
The minister said that getting people to work 19½ hours a week would have a number of benefits.
“It’s a win for the community, it’s a win for the genuine guy as he has something to do and it’s a win because it’s calling the bluff of people involved in scams.” He said that people could be given work in their local area.
He also said that normal working practices would have to apply to people involved in the type of programmes that may emerge.
“It would have to be on the basis that it is work and people will face the same sanctions as in paid employment.” If this wasn’t the case, bad habits would develop, he added.
The minister said that at the moment, if someone becomes unemployed, their first step is to go to the Social Welfare office to arrange payments and then on to FÁS to look for work.
“We think it’s a bit stupid to have to go to two offices,” he claimed, and said he would look at creating a “one-stop shop” for people who need services.
The minister also said he was looking at the introduction of photo identity cards, as a means of preventing fraud.
Speaking to The Clare Champion following the meeting, Minister Ó Cuív reiterated his determination to crack down on scams, adding that he believed many on the dole would be pleased to have some work to do, in return for social welfare payments.
“Those who are defrauding the system have to be caught. That’s absolutely vital. They are taking money that could be used to help those who genuinely need the help of the social welfare system.
“I don’t know anyone who genuinely became unemployed in the last year, who wouldn’t give a lot to have the opportunity of working. It’s not a question of forcing a horse to drink, what I’m really looking at how can I give all of those thousands and thousands of people an opportunity to work.
“The simple answer to that is by challenging those who don’t want to work and want to draw the money as to why they want to do that. If they’re not acting within the law that pushes them out of the system and the saving will be used to give much better opportunities to those that genuinely want to make a contribution and to whom being unemployed is serious not only because of the loss of finance but also because of the loss of work and the benefit people get from work.”
While he said that the amount of fraud involved in social welfare might be overestimated by some, he does want to crack down on it, while there are many who need and deserve support.
“I think people often exaggerate the amount of cheating and the amount of savings that could be made. I will be very, very hard as a minister on anyone that is cheating the system.
“I spoke today about the introduction of a card so a person will only be able to claim once. I want to make the system a lot friendlier to those who genuinely need a hand up.
“For example, I spoke at length about couples who have lost one job and aren’t entitled to jobseekers allowance and the dilemma they face and how I’d look to do something for that group of people. I spoke about the self-employed who find their income has collapsed.
“What I want to do is help those who have a genuine case and help them in a way that hasn’t been done before in the Social Welfare system, and to do that by clamping down on those who shouldn’t be getting what they’re getting,” the minister concluded.

Credit unions reject Ó Cuív’s claim
IF the banks hadn’t been bailed out there could have been disastrous implications for the credit union
movement in Ireland, Minister Éamon  Ó Cuív claimed in Ennis last week.
However, the Irish League of Credit Unions has rejected his claim as “untrue, erroneous and exaggerated”.
Minister Ó Cuív addressed members of Fianna Fáil at a meeting in the West County Hotel in Ennis last Friday night.
During his speech, Mr Ó Cuív said that if banks had been allowed to fail they may have taken the Credit Unions down with them.
Following the meeting, the minister claimed that, “The credit union had something like €10 billion in accumulated savings that had not been let out to members.
“That was all invested somewhere. Somewhere in our banking system including Anglo Irish Bank, which was paying the highest rate of interest of any of the banks, before the guarantee came in. My understanding is that a considerable amount of [the credit union’s] money was in Anglo Irish Bank.
“It is under no threat because we guaranteed it but those who say you shouldn’t have guaranteed it didn’t understand, in my view, the possible nature of the problem and the fact that what we were guaranteeing was deposits, it was not the people who had borrowed the money.”
However, when contacted by The Clare Champion, a spokesperson for the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) said the minister was wrong.
“The suggestion that Credit Unions have vast amounts invested heavily in Irish bank bonds is untrue, erroneous and exaggerated. One hundred credit unions who are affiliated to the ILCU have invested a total of €99m in Irish bank bonds, which is not a very significant figure proportionate to the size and asset value of the movement.
“Significantly, half of this (€50m) is in Irish Life & Permanent which is the 10-year bond they got from Davy in the perpetual bonds settlement. The ILCU collectively accounts for €11.9bn of savings; €13.8bn in assets and at €750m is Ireland’s leading provider of social finance.”
The spokesperson said that the credit unions shouldn’t be dragged into arguments about support for Irish banks.
“We regret the need to make this statement at this time, however, it is unfortunate that credit unions are being used as a political football to justify arguments for and against Government support for financial institutions.
“We believe that it is unwise and irresponsible to worry members unnecessarily especially as credit unions have and will continue to do all we can to ensure that we behave responsibly in relation to our members and their finances now and in the future.”
Also at the meeting the minister said that elements of the public don’t comprehend how serious allowing the banks to fail would have been.
“I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people still don’t understand what could have happened if we hadn’t guaranteed the banks,” he said.
“I still hear the mantra that we protected the bankers and we protected the borrowers. I think it’d be much more true to say that we protected the ordinary workers in the banks and we protected the depositors.
“The borrowers that can’t repay their loans will be dealt with in a very strong way by NAMA. With regard to top bankers, I think it’s fair to say there has been a very big turnover of bank directors, chief executives and so on in the last two years and rightly so.”
During the meeting, he said that while there might be public anger about the behaviour of senior bankers, it wasn’t the role of Government to see them prosecuted. “Politicians have no role in a civilised state in law enforcement,” he said.
The minister also said that politicians have to be careful about their public utterances or people being prosecuted would be able to argue that they were unable to receive a fair trial.