Donegal Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Are the working poor being forgotten ?

Published: 8 February, 2010

Are the working poor being forgotten?

Buncrana Sinn Féin town councillor, Daren Lalor asks the question. Are the working poor being forgotten?

It is important to realise that having a job is not, of itself, a guarantee that one lives in a poverty-free household. Unfortunately there are many individuals and families within the Buncrana area that while fortunate enough not to be one of 4,850 out of work in the area have little disposable income and face extreme financial difficulties. Those of the working poor who are most vulnerable are those on minimum wage.

The minimum wage (8.65 an hour) has played an important role in keeping the state's lowest paid workers out of the poverty.

While I fully understand that our small to medium businesses in Donegal and across the state are finding it difficult in the current economic climate, the knee jerk reaction by some within this sector in calling for a reduction of the minimum wage is wrong and lacks vision to see the bigger picture.

Our economic problems do not lie with having to pay wages 364 Euro for a 40 hour per week, but may be something to do with, lack of support for local small business, huge bonuses that many CEO's and top managers have decided to pay themselves, the failure of the government to put conditions on the enormous grants paid by the tax payers to multinationals when they pull out of the state, the reduction of central government funding to local authorities and the lack of physical infrastructure particular across Inishowen is nothing short of shameful.

So, it is clear that competitiveness has been held back by decades of under investment and a present lack of a job retention/creation policy is crippling those who want to work.

Let's be clear the reality is if we reduce the minimum wage as recommended by the Small Firms Association then we reduce the money in the local economy and the demands for Family Income Support (FIS) will naturally increase and in turn give the government a license to reduce further social welfare rates.