Tánaiste Simon Harris has sparked outrage over comments made about people on the dole during Fine Gael's Ard Fheis.
Tánaiste Simon Harris spoke at the Ard Fheis in Co Cork over the weekend, and a comment he made about long-term recipients of the Jobseekers' Allowance has sparked heated debates.
During his speech, he told delegates: "The dole is a safety net, not a way of life," and while his words were met with applause in the room, he has also been met with criticism from the opposition.
Harris has been accused of "punching down" and targeting a small group of people during near-full employment to score political points, with Labour leader Ivana Bacik referring to the comments as "lazy nonsense from the lads that dropped the Living Wage".
A heated debate on the topic took place on The Claire Byrne Show on Monday, November 9, between Fine Gael Minister of State for Charities, Gaeltacht and the Islands & Rural Transport, Jerry Buttimer, and Paul Murphy, People Before Profit-Solidarity TD.
Minister Buttimer explained that the Tánaiste's words were aimed specifically at those who continue to abuse the system as opposed to those who are in genuine need of it.
Claire Byrne, however, reminded him multiple times that that isn't what Simon Harris said.
He said: "There is a cohort, a group of people who, for whatever reason, are not engaging, who refuse to engage, and in a social welfare budget, we need to look at how we can ensure that people who want to and who can work are working.
"But I think all of us have an obligation, responsibility, no matter who we are, to ensure that if I am unemployed and I can work, then why am I not engaging? Why am I refusing to get involved in the process?"
Paul Murphy, however, called the comments made by the Tánaiste "a highly cynical choice to attack powerless, vulnerable people" in an effort to distract from the party's failures in government.
He continued: "Our rate of long term unemployment is 1.3%. That's about half the EU average. It's 36,100 people, not the 52,000 that Simon Harris claimed on RTE.
"And, do you know who is part of that cohort? These are not just all people who are lazy, don't want to work.
"A disproportionate number, for example, are older people between 60 and 65. These are people who possibly have worked their entire lives, who were laid off for whatever reason and are finding it very difficult to go back into work because of age related discrimination.
"Now, Fine Gael are painting a target on their backs, on the targets of on the backs of others to say these are the people to be worried about, not the landlords who get shovelled a €1 billion a year, not the big multinationals who get billions of euros a year in corporate welfare.
"Not the developers who got a massive tax cut at the last budget, 400 million straight into their pockets.
"No, no, you have to be worried about people who are living in conditions of poverty and in fact, we're going to make their lives harder.
"And the impact of that for those who have children is to drive more children into poverty."
Claire pointed out that "the truth of it is, if you are able to work in Ireland today, there's no reason for you not to" with Mr Murphy pointing out that people of higher age brackets who report age based discrimination very regularly in surveys.
Mr Murphy's overall point that the "actual problem that is being identified here is a very, very small one and it's a distraction technique from the real problems in our society".
Main image: Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris Pic: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie
