To: michael.noonan@oireachtas.ie
Cc: lettersed@irishtimes.com, david.norris@oireachtas.ie, clare.daly@oireachtas.ie, mattie.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie
It was with measured optimism that I read Dr. Sean Healy's article in the Irish Times of Friday Jan 23rd.
See here: http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/plans-for-social-dialogue-must-deal-with-needs-of-most-vulnerable-before-tax-and-pay-1.2075855
"One of the major lessons to be learned from Ireland’s experience, according to Michael Noonan (above with IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde and Minister for Public Expenditure, Brendan Howlin), was that all future multi-annual programmes should, from the very beginning, address the social consequences of the policies being proposed and ensure that these impacts were addressed"
I hope most sincerely that you believe that, Minister as my experience over the past two years has shown me that this government and you in particular as Minister for Finance, have acted with a noted disregard for the real impacts of austerity.
I am not going to debate the necessity or otherwise of austerity budgets, but the focus of the last two budgets has been on the bottom line of budgetary policy. The role of government has been reduced to four people sitting around a well stocked, comfortable boardroom turning socio-economic science into an accounting exercise. The Economic Management Committee have taken the lives of the 4.5 million citizens and used them as pieces in a jigsaw puzzle that gets smaller and smaller every year, and the pieces that get thrown away may be insignificant to you, but they are important pieces in the picture of 2015 Ireland.
Politics is supposed to be about the people, and politicians are supposed to be public servants. What we have witnessed in this government, and in previous governments to be fair, is that politics is about self service.
The evidence continues to come out, even after endless commentaries about transparency, reform and the end of cronyism. Barely a day goes by without the political class proving its inability to change. While the underlying elitism and sense of entitlement continues to allow politicians to justify their disconnectedness from their constituents there can be no change in the political landscape. What that means for the future is a continued rise in the frustration of the disenfranchised from their supposed representatives.
Dr. Healy states:
"The failure to take an integrated approach meant that while the fiscal situation has improved dramatically and the debt/GDP ratio is falling, poverty has also increased.
Though
the poverty line has fallen in the period since 2008, the number of
people experiencing poverty has increased substantially.
The
social services and infrastructure on which people depend, such as
health and housing, are not meeting the basic requirements people need
if they are to live life with dignity.
Now that
the economy is beginning to improve and some additional resources are
likely to be available, Government is proposing to begin a process of
social dialogue as it prepares a multiannual plan for Ireland’s
development."
Since
the 15th of October 2013 I have written numerous emails, as have many
other parents in my situation, to try and impress upon you the critical
reality of the impacts of your budgetary measures.
I
have been separated from my children's mother for 13 years. In all
that time I have contributed more than 65% of my income in maintenance
... for nine of those years voluntarily. I have tried my best to
alleviate at least the financial impact on my family of the breakup. My
ex has worked hard too and our combined efforts have meant that the
mortgage on the family home has not fallen into arrears and we have
provided some measure of stability in the lives of our children.
In
2013 my personal income after maintenance was € 218 a week. The adult
poverty line in Ireland is € 210 a week. In the 2013 budget the removal
of the Single Parent Tax Credit meant my personal income was reduced to
€ 172 a week. Your response to this was to say that single fathers (I
am generalising) could go back into family court to seek adjustments in
their maintenance. You therefore were NOT protecting the single mothers
or our children from the impact of this cut ... we were advised simply
to pass it on!
My
income having reduced to less than an unemployed person on the dole
meant I was forced to go back to court to seek such an adjustment. I
made a proposal to the court to avail of my legal entitlements under the
tax code to recover a large portion of what I had lost and at the same
time continue to pay an UNDIMINISHED level of maintenance. The courts
refused to afford me this entitlement: protecting the tax you had taken
from me and penalising me in regard to the amount of income tax I am
required to pay. Maintenance WAS reduced ... thus passing on the impact
of the tax cut to my children's mother while leaving me with an income
of € 179 a week. The court also refused to follow the Department of
Justice's OWN guidelines on Reasonable Living Expenses which state that
my income should be € 234 a week!
If
the government now, almost four years after coming to office, is truly
committed to addressing the IMPACT of social policy then I must demand
that the impact of this particular cut should be addressed with utmost
priority. The removal of the Single Parent Credit for single fathers
has very seriously impacted on the lives of 78,000 men and much more
importantly their children.
Judge
Marie Baker, in a High Court ruling some months ago, very clearly
stated that single fathers can NOT be assessed without due regard to
their children, especially when they have regular contact and access to
the children. Your change has meant that in the eyes of the State, vis
the tax code, I am regarded as a single person with no dependent
children. My children have been "taken" from me. They are invisible to
the State in relation to me. They are GHOSTS in society, ripped from
their fathers BY THE STATE, which should be trying to encourage and
support fathers and their roles in the lives of their children.
Dr. Sean Healy says " If the social impacts of policies had been addressed from the very
beginning there would be far less anger and alienation among people
today".
In the past my submissions have been ignored, dismissed or at best responded to with press office rhetoric.
Words are cheap, Minister. Lives are not.
As
the government faces into the final year of its term in office I will
continue to ask for some acknowledgement of the impact of this single
issue on an important but invisible sector of society. The efforts of
fathers who live in poverty - and that is not an exaggeration - in order
to protect their children (and their ex-wives) from the worst ravages
of austerity should be recognised and supported by progressive
legislation that aims to secure families, in whatever format they exist,
and attempts to reintroduce some measure of humanity back into the
process of budgetary policy.
We are not jigsaw pieces. We are human beings. We are Irish men, women and children.
Sincerely
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