Carer’s allowance cuts prove FG is out of touch

IN AN article on the Budget by John Drennan (MoS, September 25) I refer to a quote from one minister who summarised the position of Leo Varadkar’s inner court: ‘My personal preference is for tax cuts to keep that middleclass vote sweet. You can give social welfare recipients an extra €10 or €15 or €20. It doesn’t matter. They are going to vote Sinn Féin anyway’. This arrogant, classist, narrow-minded remark is a clear indicator that Fine Gael do not represent the people of Ireland in any meaningful sense.

The Department of Social Protection, by practising unsound means calculations, has made sweeping social welfare payment cuts to carer’s allowance and the State pension. The suggestion of a social welfare payment increase of €20 was an insult. The Budget should have reinstated these payments fully and ensured everyone who is a carer qualifies for a payment.

Leslie Egan, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.

Half-pay pensioners

SOCIAL Protection Minister Heather Humphreys and her ministerial colleagues a few short weeks ago were awarded an 8% rise in their ‘core pay’ which amounted to a rise in their salary of approximately €1,600 (minimum) or €307 per week to help them cope with rising prices and inflation.

They, in turn, in the Budget awarded the State pensioners €12 per week or 4.5% in their ‘core pay’ to help them cope with essentially the same rising prices and inflation.

Why the ministers need 25 times more remuneration than the State pensioners to cope with essentially the same rise in prices and inflation is a mystery but not a surprise going on past performance.

Dennis Dennehy, Dublin.

Poverty of starstruck

OUR lives in Ireland, and those of probably billions of other humans in the rest of the world, are slowly being destroyed by the total lack of responsibility and accountability of governments. Some countries have hundreds of people starving on the streets while their governments seem to imagine that spending billions on looking at stars or sending three or four people into space will improve anything.

Even this apparently successful country of ours can only keep going because of more than

10,000 registered charities and a huge Government debt. I wonder how many charities are needed to look after people who have to live under a space-mad government.

I am starting to understand why all those ancient civilisations disappeared.

Richard Barton, Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

Love me, love my...

I WAS not surprised to read that Paris Hilton was going out of her mind while frantically searching for her missing chihuahua. The bond between owner and pet is like no other – they’re our companions, always along for the ride no matter what ups and downs life brings.

I would search to the end of the earth if my dog went missing, so I hope Paris is successful in getting Diamond Baby back.

Lucy Bryn, via email.

…A workman let my dog out once and I was beside myself.

I live close to a railway line and I couldn’t help but think of the worst. Luckily I found her that evening, but it was the most traumatic few hours.

Famous or not, Paris clearly loves her dog.

A Gutierrez, via email.

Heart Day support

ON THURSDAY, people across the globe came together for World Heart Day in an effort to advocate better heart health while creating awareness of the many cardiac conditions.

While it was very encouraging to see a community advocating for a healthier and more active lifestyle, we must remember, too, that World Heart Day can be a particularly poignant and difficult day in the year for many.

It is estimated up to 80 people under the age of 35 die from Sudden Cardiac Death in Ireland, north and south, each year.

As chair of CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young Ireland), I sadly see first-hand the devasting impact of SCD on friends, families and communities.

For many, World Heart Day will bring about a painful reminder of their loss.

We are reminding all those who have unfortunately experienced the death of a loved one through SCD that they are not alone in their grief, we at CRY are here to support them. For further detail please go to cry.ie

Noelle Condon, CRY Ireland, Dublin 24.