Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MOVES HAVE BEEN made to “ease the burden” on young people on social welfare, with Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar cutting the personal contribution that they have to make to their rent supplement.
He announced today that the new measure, which is being brought in as part of Budget 2017, will represent a saving of up to €20 a week, or €80 a month, for anyone under the age of 26 who is claiming Jobseekers Allowance or Supplementary Welfare Allowance, and who is receiving rent supplement.
“This measure will help to ease the rental burden on young people on welfare,” commented Varadkar.
Under the previous arrangement, a very significant portion of their income was going on rent. My department has set aside €500,000 per annum to cover the cost and I’m very pleased to bring in this measure as part of Budget 2017.
He noted that this move has also been sought by organisations working with homeless people.
“It’s expected to help young people to transition from homeless services and into rented accommodation,” Minister Varadkar said.
He explained that young individuals or couples claiming Jobseekers or receiving Social Welfare Assistance previously had to contribute up to €40 a week to their rent supplement tenancy.
A report from the Simon Community in October said that just 20% of rental properties are in reach of those on rent supplement.
Rent supplement was increased in June. Minister for Housing Simon Coveney and Minister Varadkar said at the time that the rise in the new limits would mean people who cannot afford the full rent in private accommodation will get more help from the State.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Let me get this straight, young people on social welfare will now pay 10% of the money they get towards rent, while those young who work in their minimum wage jobs or dragged themselves through University about 70% of their wages to rent?
There is something SERIOUSLY wrong with a country that keeps those that are educated and working poorer than those who do not work.
@Amy it’s frustrating right.? I think the government just wakes up and thinks..”hmm how do we frustrate the working tax payer today?” Then they come up with stuff like this.
@Amy Ni Dhaltuin: 3rd level was free for most of the last 20 years up until a few years ago, so “dragging themselves through university” wasn’t all that bad.
@Mr Snuffleupagus: ……. WHAT? No. I finished school in 2009 and to become a secondary teacher I have paid €20,000 in student fees without one ounce of help from grants etc. I also paid rent, books, bills, and a car to get to work. In my living memory university has been everything but ‘free’. No idea what you are blathering on about.
@Amy Ni Dhaltuin: For a secondary school teacher I would have expected you to read what I said. I said they were “free” for “most” of the last 20 years. Fees were reintroduced after the crash. And congratulations on paying bills, books, and a car to get to work. I’ve a medal here for you. Doing any tax free grinds to fund your lavish lifestyle then?
Not only that but some of us unemployed over 26 don’t even get rent allowance, I pay 450 a month out of my social welfare leaving me with only 300 a month to buy food, pay bills, travel expenses etc. I share a house and live outside of city centre on a bus route so rent is cheap compared to others. But not cheap enough that I can avail of rent allowance, I just have to worry about my rent going up in new year leaving me in a very bad situation I get anxiety even thinking about it, my rent has gone up 100 euro since moved in already :-(
It’s not incompetence (for a change) it’s design
Power Politics 101: Gotta keep the serfs ripping each other apart so they won’t turn the pitchforks on the ones doing the real damage for their own gain
Why do you think there’s means tests for med cards where most modern countries give the equivalent to everyone? Got jack all to do with “targeting” the most poor it’s to foster resentment by those on middle incomes against those on low incomes
Same reason in the US they’re planning to means test social security , classic politics 101: if the middle classes don’t get something it looses its political base of support and is perceived as only for the moochers, that’s one reason so called elites are pushing back against replacing welfare with things like universal incomes
@Mr Snuffleupagus: No. I emigrated because my love for my country wasnt enough to pay rent and loan repayments while enjoying a ‘lavish lifestyle’ that included eating as a sub teacher on 4 hours a week. Being a spoiled millenial I jumped ship rather than relegate myself to the dole.
@Sam Glynn: I would head for the country if I were you and try my luck there. No point staying in Dublin and having no life. If social welfare rates are the same across the country then at least you’d be more likely to have more disposable with far cheaper rent elsewhere. There’s also a ot to e said for living in the country. I was unemployed myself in 2010-2012 and it’s no picnic. This year I paid nearly 30K between Income Tax, PAYE and USC alone, and I’d struggle to find a suitable place to rent myself right now due to the severe shortage.
Where did you pay 20k in student fees? Private? Not enough points in CAO? Repeat?
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: None of that. I paid about 3k a year during my 3 year undergrad, and 11k for a 2 year Professional Masters in Education which is the replacement for the H Dip. Its the only way to become a secondary teacher now.
@Amy Ni Dhaltuin:
Amy the government cares about only two constituencies: public sector workers and welfare recipients.
The 1.7 million hard working private sector taxpayers are seen as a mere cash cow to divert resources in the direction of those two groups.
Why this is particularly the case in Ireland i don’t know, probably due to our poverty stricken past, but it’s already bankrupted us in the last decade and will do so again.
I live in Galway not Dublin. I am very active in searching for work but no luck in getting a full time job, I have re trained and keep my skills updated, I have volunteered with start up businesses and have even done my time with unpaid internships hoping to gain full time employment after but as many others I got dropped for the next free employee. I’m desperately hoping to get a call in the new year from one of the many jobs applied for and all my worries will be over. Staying positive in between the anxiety :-)
@Amy Ni Dhaltuin: There is also something wrong with a system where many cannot afford to get a Third Level education or live in Dublin where the jobs are. The Independent reported some months ago that around two thirds of university goers are middle class and only one third are working class.
@Fred Johnson: You have got to be kidding. They have repeatedly cut social welfare and punished people for being under 26. They have also eroded the paltry social welfare rates by transferring more of the tax burden from direct to indirect taxation, and failing to act on the Troika demands to tackle the cost of living including the cost of legal services (mainly because the politicians disproportionately hail from the legal profession).
Why not get them up off their proverbials and get a job?
Should be given a job weather they want it or not
Ah come on now many people do get off their proverbial and seek work , they usually come from east of Berlin however
In a different era I’d agree but seriously what jobs. Yes there are jobs out there but not enough for the amount of unemployed out there. How many jobs come with job security these days? 0 hour contracts or temporary flexible part time contracts seem to be the norm now. Any decent jobs have a massive uptake of applications for just 1 position. It’s not easy, not easy at all. If you lost you job in morning,or a months time you will quickly realise how difficult it really is out there
Sorry what information is this based on ? As someone who hires staff on a regular basis with good terms and conditions & job security it’s very hard to get staff and a lot of the time experience is not necessary as full training is given . It’s not to say every unemployed person is in that position because they want to be it’s not as black and white as that but lots of opportunities for 18-23 year olds to be employed in this country at the moment .
Its not black and white Sam but tell how is that so many people are willing to leave Poland etc and come here to work , virtually every Hotel ,Restaurant, coffee shop and numerous other places of employment have Eastern Europeans working in and fair play to them for coming here to work , I don’t go with the narrative that they are all wonderful because they are not and many are certainly working the system but the point is Irish people have an advantage over them but many are more than willing to live off the back of those who do work and therein lies the problem
Ah now this is just ridiculous. I relied on my parents sacrificing for years, putting the strain on their mortgages during the recession so they could put me through college thinking that a degree would give me the chance at life. I finished my degree in 2013 and now I’m about to finish my PhD, and luckily I can support myself, but many of us aiming for higher education can’t support ourselves. We see people who don’t reach for this getting the benefits the people while we spend years trying our hardest studying to be beaten by the government. I love this country but there’s seriously something wrong when the harder you work the less you get
@Mark Matthew Hughes: Could you live on €197 a week?
20% of properties in reach of those on rent supplement? I would have thought way less than that. I would think a huge number of people currently homeless were directly previous to the crisis, in receipt of RA. If I were on RA and looking for somewhere to stay I’d say I’d give up hope of finding anywhere to rent. I’d doubt I’d even be bothered trying if I were living in any cities. I would likely immediately relocate to the country or get a job ASAP. And if you relocate to the country, you’ll have less chance of finding a job in the first place.
@Mr Snuffleupagus: And that is what the elite dont get or want to get – that in rural Ireland there are no jobs – a situation FG was rightly punished for in the GE.
We have jobs in rural Ireland, they not be as many well paid jobs, but with cheap rent, it doesn’t really matter.
Social welfare is supposed to be a temporary safety net between jobs, not a way of life as soon as a person turns 18!
Another promise of something at future date.
That’s the nature of a promise.
And broken promises are called lies
So, over 26′s still have to pay over 20% towards their rent? How does that make Sense?
jane. the lower jobseekers for younger people is meant to encourage them to get a job. older people get higher jobseekers
@Patrick Gough:
Why are they increasing the cash in hand for the younger jobseekers then Patrick. Boggles the mind doesn’t it. Welfare rates across the board should be going down in this job market.
@Patrick Gough: that makes it even worse, that means that those over 26 have to pay far more towards rent as a proportion of what they receive…
Welfare state makes me sick, what about the working man/woman who keeps this country a float, gets screwed again.
Your worried someone on benefit might gain a little yet willing to support apple not paying the Irish sate billions in taxes. Oh what a petty society we are, willing to fight for crumbs from the table when we own the restaurant.
Once again Leo seems to think his job is to increase the bloated welfare budget, just like he did massively with healthcare.
Your job is to cut the budget Leo. That’s a sign of success, when the country pays out less on welfare. It means we’re succeeding as a country and easing the burden on taxpayers. Leo would be more at home with the populist policies of FF or SF perhaps.
Ah here, should’nt people under 26 be looking for work, there is work out there, maybe its minimum wage, has to be better than being on welfare.
have your say