Shameful Discrimination Against Women Pensioners – Change this unfair Joan Burton (Labour Party) law

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4yKfTtBu28&feature=youtu.be

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Social Welfare Bill 2017. Women, in particular, are being discriminated against and being treated unfairly and unequally by our social welfare system, specifically in the rules and regulations governing the State pension entitlement. The averaging of bands and minimum contribution changes made by the former Minister, Deputy Burton, in 2012 mean that women are being seriously disadvantaged and discriminated against. Of course, the Government is continuing that discrimination and inequity in this Social Welfare Bill. Everybody is aware of this situation, which has been raised by Members across the House.

The Minister recently gave the impression that she would deal with the problem or at least make a start at treating women fairly in State pension entitlement. We understood that a memorandum was to go to Cabinet on 14 November to make a start on the various changes. However, that has not happened. The changes were not made and are not included in the Bill. I raised this issue in the budget debate on 10 October. I particularly raised the changes made by Deputy Burton in 2012. These changes affected approximately 25,000 women. Many of their pensions were reduced and some pensions were wiped out altogether. Some women were made dependent on their spouses or partners.

It has been suggested that it would cost about €70 million to reverse the 2012 changes with somewhat higher figures for retrospective backdating of the changes made. There is no doubt that that money is readily available. This is a very wealthy country and choices were made by this Government and the previous Government that could have been different and could have tackled this issue. The Government could still tackle the issue. In recent budgets approximately €100 million a year was given back to the top 5% of earners, people whose average income would have been €180,000 per annum. We could have used the tax forgone in the next 21 years as a result of not taxing the banks. Of course, we could use the moneys available that we will discuss tomorrow when we debate the Public Service Pay and Pensions Bill 2017, where the Government proposes to give a €15,000 pension increase to former taoisigh, such as Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen. There are choices the Government could have made and should make to give proper treatment to women who have been disadvantaged and discriminated against in regard to the State pension.

Posted by Workers and Unemployed Action Group in Pensions

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Homeless and Housing Emergency

This Christmas morning over 3,000 children will wake up in hotel bedrooms and bed and Breakfast accommodation.

Successive governments including Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Labour Party stopped local authorities building social houses. They handed social housing over to private developers and the private market.

As a result, we have a National Housing and Homelessness Emergency including:

• 8,500 homeless
• 3,000 Children homeless
• 120,000 on Local Authority Housing Waiting lists
• 1,000 more couch surfing or doubling up with relatives.
• 1,000 more still trapped in private rented accommodation unable to get a mortgage or get on a Local Authority House Waiting list.

Tipperary County Council hasn’t built a Social house in the last 4 years and none will be built in 2017 either.

3,500 families are on Tipperary County Council houses waiting lists and we have 379 people homeless.   

How did we get here?  How can this Housing Emergency be solved?  What can you do?

These are some of the questions that will be asked and answered at an important Public Meeting on Housing and Homelessness taking place in the Park Hotel, Clonmel on Wednesday 6th December at 8pm.

The Meeting will be addressed by nationally known speakers who have an in-depth knowledge of the Housing and Homeless emergency.

Dr Rory Hearne, is an author, researcher at Maynooth University and Social Justice Activist while Mike Allen is the Director of Advocacy with the housing charity Focus Ireland.

The Meeting will be chaired by Deputy Seamus Healy.

Seamus Healy T.D. 28/11/2017

Tel 087 2802199

 

 

Posted by Workers and Unemployed Action Group in Homeless, Housing

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“Taoiseach Varadkar Must Apologise”

The Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, must issue a public apology to homeless families, children and individuals. The Taoiseach’s dishonesty is breathtaking, and he and his Government are homelessness deniers. He deliberately and dishonestly abused an OECD report to deny and downplay the housing and homelessness emergency. The OECD report specifically states that its findings must not be used for comparison purposes. The statistics are not and never were comparable from one country to another. Into the bargain, the statistics are two years old. The Taoiseach must be called out on this issue and must do the decent thing and issue an apology.

Fr. Peter McVerry said today, and I agree with him, that the only solution to this problem of homelessness is to build social housing at a very intensive rate. It is quite obvious that this House and this Government are all talk and very little action. The Government is obviously not doing enough and will continue to put its faith in the private market, which has been a disaster for families. What will the Government’s coalition partner do about this issue? I refer to Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil’s hands are dirty on this issue and they are getting dirtier with every day. It has a supply-and-confidence arrangement with the Government and is keeping it in power. Fianna Fáil has a responsibility to sort out the housing issue once and for all and ensure that the Government builds large-scale local authority housing.

I will support the Bill but the hypocrisy of the Labour Party on this issue is monumental. It was in government for five years and has made the housing and homelessness crisis worse. During those five years, it held the housing portfolio at Minister of State and senior ministerial level and made matters worse.

It is now obvious that major demonstrations of people power will be necessary to ensure that this issue is solved and that large-scale social and affordable housing is built. I also call on the trade union movement to call a one-day general strike on this issue to ensure it is treated with the seriousness it deserves.

 

Posted by Workers and Unemployed Action Group in Homeless, Housing

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