What About the Young?

There is little to say about the budget that hasn't been said already in a better way by people that can articulate the facts in the best way possible.

What I can say, is that I feel 'The '85 Generation' are going to become the next crop of people that are raised for export like our cattle, as de Valera once put it.

It is absolute folly for the government to pay lip service about trying to create jobs for young people when the only option for thousands of skilled professionals is to leave the country and pursue opportunities elsewhere. Where is the sense in paying for 'free education' from Primary School through to Third Level College when the investment in developing young, skilled professionals only seems to lead to a lengthening of the dole queue or a decrease in the population?

The state is bankrupting itself to keep the country running during these tumultuous times, and for what? To keep the EU and the IMF happy?

Politicians always seem to say that they got into that line of work because they want to help 'the people'. Well, if they are so concerned with 'the people', then 'the people' would be listened to first and foremost and our opinions considered.

We have taken €6 billion out of our fractured economy and are going to pay over €5 billion to our overlords overseas. Even then, we will be billions upon billions behind in what we are taking in and what we are spending.

The decisions taken by middle-aged men in suits in Dublin, or Brussels, or Washington have a profound and lasting effect on the generations that follow them. I am afraid that we have been let down and let down badly in the last few years. For a decade before the bust, finding a job was not difficult for young people in Ireland. Fast forward a mere four years, and unemployment among under twenty-fives is over 25%.

Much was made of the figures on the live register showing a decrease in the last few months. Is this because jobs are being created and people are going back to work? Absolutely not. I have not seen the emigration figures, but the drop in people signing-on may lie therein.

So, where do The '85 Generation go from here? For those in work, it is not all bad news; if you are a single person with no dependents earning €26,000 a year, you will actually be slightly better off than last year. The abolition of the Income Levy, to be replaced by the Universal Social Cost (USC), means you will pay slightly less tax.

But, you aren't so lucky you're pretty much anybody else, especially if you're on the minimum wage. If you are on the Minimum Wage, you will see a drop in earnings of over €2,000 when the wage cut and the Social Welfare cuts are taken into account.

How is this possible? People who were earning €18,000 a year will now earn €16,000 a year while also paying the USC for everything over €4,000.

Remember the 10% pay cut the Public Sector took? Remember the outrage, the strikes and the negativity? Well, how should the government expect the poorest working people to react? They are being absolutely hammered in the name of borrowing money to pay off debts that were never their fault in the first place.

Thankfully the Old Age Pension was not affected this time around, and I feel that a 4% cut in Social Welfare is tough to take but necessary.
What must be taken from this budget, and not get lost in the outrage that is following, is that there will be a shadow generation in this country. They will contain the most skilled potential workforce that this country has ever assembled, but The '85 Generation have little choice but to head to their local Welfare Office or book flights out of here.