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Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

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Welfare Tip-Offs

category national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis author Wednesday September 15, 2010 02:34author by Declan Cullen - None Report this post to the editors

It is with great despair that I read about the 6000 tip - offs to the Dept of Social Protection in last weeks papers. While I gladly welcome any crackdown on fraud, we must be mindful about the double edge side of this particular sword.
People have to remember that these so - called welfare fraud lines can be used by a person with an axe to grind with a person that they don't like or have falling out with in the the form a malicous and false call to the dept just to cause bother to that particular person.

It is with great despair that I read about the 6000 tip - offs to the Dept of Social Protection in last week's papers.
While I gladly welcome any crackdown on fraud, we must be mindful about the double edge side of this particular sword.
People have to remember that these so - called welfare fraud lines can be used by a person with an axe to grind with a person that they don't like or have falling out with in the the form a malicous and false call to the dept just to cause bother to that particular person.
When the department gets a complaint it treats the person as it they are guilty until proven innocent, and can put the claimant through an intimidating interview process with a local inspector were your right to privacy is thrown out of the window and you are left treated like dirt.
With all the current fervour to crack down on the ordinary people of Ireland unlucky to find themselves in the welfare trap we still have one very large elephant in the room. That is the fact that the people that have caused Ireland's financial meltdown are not feeling the heat for what they have done and don't have to worry about their welfare payments being stopped or suspended because they are far above worrying about such things.
I hope sending in my comment will add balance to your discussions today as there probably will be a chorus of internet opinion praising the Department for its crack down, but forgetting that one day that aforementioned sword might be wielded in their direction with no mercy.
Ireland was always called the nation of Saints and Scholars. Unfortunately we seem to have become a nation of informers and curtain twichers who have taken their eye off the ball as regards the sins of the government and their cronies.

Declan Cullen
Dublin

author by V for vendettapublication date Wed Sep 15, 2010 03:28author address author phone Report this post to the editors


"Put an Irishman on a spit
and you will find two more
to turn him"

-Swift

That's all we need. The poor turning on each other instead of uniting against their common enemy. The old tools of imperialism still work well. Divide and conquer. People should not be so petty and short sighted as to use these numbers.

Tell me this: Why did we not have a tax dodger helpline before this one arrived. And why is it that all those lucrative loopholes still have not been closed after all this time mr Lenihan??

It's evident what he and his crony government's priorities are and it's clear from this cynical exercise that he does not have the interests of the poor or unemployed at heart.

author by Sceptic - None whatsoeverpublication date Wed Sep 15, 2010 05:11author address author phone Report this post to the editors

As per usual the lads have written about something which is of great concern to US ALL .

''Let me share this with you '' as the yanks would say .

I was a victim of the dreaded green eyed monster of the 80s , i was signing on in my home
town of Bray at the time , i was 'pulled in ' about twice a week by la manager who performed
his usual spanish inquisition with such profound tory like questions about this that n' thother
until i was blue in the face , to be brief i was eventually ' snipped ' and allowed languish in
a flat i had rented as a result of my then situation , i could'nt pay de rent because i had not
got it to give , i couldn't afford to feed myself because i had no money , and so on .

I ended up in Peamount hospital for a period of time because i had been so run down it was
unreal , at least i got 3 square meals a day in peamount and a bed to lie on which is more
than i had in Bray , and no it had nothing to do with drink or drugs it had to do with a mouth
piece who had nothing better to do than to hang me to the authorities who were only too
glad to get a feather in their cap as to catch a person whom they had reason to believe was
working and signing on . when i did eventually leave peamount i was, ( listen to this )
''awarded social welfare '' and continued my treatment in peamount as an out patient for
quite a while , The moral of the story is this , the squealers who are hell bent on venting
their begrudgery on others have a lot to answer for . thanks to peamount hospital for all ur help , i am doing fine now and many thanks for all they done to make the pain ( of hunger )
go away . P.S wait until i write that book .

author by Doleboy and Proudpublication date Wed Sep 15, 2010 09:49author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This kind of thing is truly disgusting, appealing to the worst side of people's nature and turning us all against each other while the rich laugh at us. But remember all this grassing and interrogation system is run by card carrying trade unionists. If the unions were to show the solidarity with the unemployed they boast about they would refuse to take part in this harrassment. They would do their job i.e. facilitate people without jobs in getting what theyre entitled to. Many people working in dole offices do that, let it be said, but the minority of evil bastards who run this harrassment system should be treated like the scabs they are.

author by RedOakpublication date Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:26author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Based on my own experiences with some but not all of the social welfare\FAS staff I've encountered there does seem to be certain people who set out to make you feel as low as a snakes guts. I've been in the interrogation rooms with the stone faced inquisitors who seem to actually begrudge you the payments that you qualify for. Through squinty eyes they use rapid fire questioning to try and trip you up when the last thing you want to do is be a 'sponger' , given the chance and the availibility of decent sustainable jobs you would take one in a heartbeat. I'm also hearing the stories from family and friends of social welfare officers at Garda checkpoints checking cars for tools , wood shavings etc. , just in case you would dare try to earn a few extra bob on top of the 'scratcher'. Possibly followed by a write up in the local paper for the self righteous pillars of the community to get high off of.

People are also being offered courses which are clearly unsuited to their aptitudes and the career path they actually want. I think non apprecticeship FAS courses are by and large being offered to siphon off people from the live register to mask the true extent of the unemployment situation. I can understand someone who is a long term work dodger being interrogated but the thing is they don't seem to be , it's the recently unemployed being told to find work when it should be quite clear to these people that work is extremely scarce at the moment. I know that there must be decent staff in FAS and the department of social protection as it's now called but Jesus Christ when you run into one of the bad sorts thay can really f**k up your day and probably your near future too. People that have worked hard for years and probably either have never signed on or last did in the eighties are being demeaned and scrutinised and made to feel like wasters. I advised my own brother to report a very aggressive FAS interviewer to their manager but I think he was wary that it could backfire on him.

 
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