"A Christmas Carol - Irish Government Style"
Issued : Friday 19 December, 2008
Statement by Joe Costello TD
Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Trade and Development
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has taken over the role of Scrooge this Christmas.
Henry Porter, a resident in the North Inner City and ninety years of age, applied for fuel allowance for the first time in his life because his heating bills were becoming increasingly difficult to pay.
He was refused because he was four cent over the income limit!
The Department of Social and Family Affairs stated as follows on the 5th December 2008.
"Unfortunately you do not qualify for this allowance as your household income does not satisfy the means test. The income limit in your case is €333.30 per week. Your household income of €333.34 per week exceeds this income limit. As a result you are not entitled to this allowance".
Mr. Porter has worked all his life and lived off his State pension in retirement and now at the age of ninety he has made his first claim on the State for a fuel allowance which is €18 per week for 30 weeks of the year.
Because his pension exceeds the income limit by a mere 4 cent he is denied this basic comfort in his extreme old age.
Meanwhile the Minister for Health placed an advertisement on publicjobs.ie yesterday offering managerial salaries at a rate of €194,264 per annum for new managers for the Health Service Authority (HSE) which is already bloated with layers of dysfunctional managers.
This must be the worst Government in the history of the country.They promote the fat cats while attacking the old, the sick and the vulnerable. Their behaviour is a disgrace. They should go before they cause irreparable damage to the country.
