A public judge and jury on welfare cheats?
‘WELFARE cheats cheat us all’, so the slogan of Leo Varadkar’s new ad campaign goes.
Yes, this is true but there is something unsettling about the campaign which is actively encouraging members of the public to report those they believe to be cheating the system.
This is surely an act that is easier said that done. Who wants to be the one making trouble for someone else, particularly if you don’t know them very well and if they aren’t doing you personally any harm.
The whole point of the radio and TV ads are to remind us that when one person cheats the system, it is the collective taxpayers who foot the bill.
Yes, this is frustrating but it is a very difficult thing surely to actually report someone to the Department of Social Protection. For a start, how can anyone prove that a mother or father hasn’t already declared their partner moving into their home or that someone is working and claiming dole?
That is nobody’s business but their own and whether they choose to declare it or not is their burden to carry and they will in turn have to dodge questions from their dole officer.
I suspect that for every lazy and workshy person who fiddles the system, there is another person caught in poverty who does so to simply survive.
Why would anyone, with a few children actually come forward and volunteer to take a cut to their payments? Even if they know it is illegal, if they can’t afford to do so then of course they are going to keep their heads down and carry on as usual.
I’m sure there are people out there claiming dole and working on the side who can comfortably pay their own way yet choose to take State payments simply because they can get away with it. There are also certainly others who work here and there and don’t have a regular income, yet if they mention this casual work they will be penalised and in turn really struggle to make ends meet at certain times of the year.
If the Government wants to flush out welfare cheats then the onus is on them to carry out their own investigations, not to ask the public to report others.
Yes it is frustrating to work and pay taxes and see others get payments they are not entitled to, but is it frustrating enough that we would deliberately make life difficult for somebody else. Who makes us judge and jury?