Dole cut plans will hit long-term unemployed
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar wants to cut dole money the longer people are unemployed and increase the tax burden on the rich – to give a break to the middle-class workers.
He outlined his plans to move to a European-style model where welfare benefits are linked to the social insurance tax and PRSI payments.
Coupled with plans announced in his leader’s address on Friday evening to up the entry level for the top tax band for the next three years at least, these proposals would mostly benefit the working middle earners.
In countries like Germany the welfare system sees newly unemployed paid up to 70% of their salary when they first lose their job, with this then petering out the longer you are out of work.
However, the Taoiseach was careful to emphasise in his comments that the base level of “around €200 a week” would not be impacted. During a break from his party conference yesterday, he said: “Well bear in mind it’s already the case in Ireland that PRSI payments are related to benefits.
“The reason you get PRSI benefit, maternity pay, jobseekers benefit without any means test is because you pay PRSI, and that’s the way the system currently works.
“What we’d like to move towards is a system we had in the past, payrelated benefits, that is now the norm across Europe which is that if you lose your job, for example, if you become sick, if you go on maternity or paternity leave, instead of just getting the same amount there will be a link to the amount you paid in.
“So if you look at Denmark, or Germany, if you lose your job in the first couple of weeks you can get up to 60%-70% of your salary while you’re looking for a new job, while in Ireland you get around €200.
“We want to change that.”