Must stop pretending

Labour needs to stop pretending ‘work for dole’ schemes are addressing the unemployment crisis according to Sinn Féin’s EU Parliament candidate, Matt Carthy.

Responding to an article published last week Mr Carthy, said: “Labour’s Lorraine Higgins writes last week that ‘it’s bewildering beyond belief Sinn Féin would put down a motion in Dáil Éireann to oppose any initiative to help the long-term unemployed.’

“Senator Higgins was talking about the government’s new ‘Gateway’ initiative which forces unemployed people to carry out work for local authorities under the threat of cuts and suspensions to welfare payments.

“This Thatcherite scheme takes advantage of some of the most vulnerable people in our society by forcing them into twenty-two months of work for a welfare top-up of €20 that can be eroded by tax.

“Gateway is a follow-up to the government’s much discredited ‘JobBridge’ which allows companies to stave off having to create paid jobs by hiring interns for free.”