Workers’ Party Councillor Ted Tynan has said that he is not surprised by the findings of a new ESRI report on the effects of government budgetary policy over the past six years which showed a 13% drop in income for the least well off.
Cllr. Tynan said that the report demolished Tánaiste Joan Burton’s claims that the Labour Party in government had protected the least well off and cushioned them from the worst effects of austerity.
“The findings of this report are a shocking indictment of the government and may not even show the full extent of the cuts. It amounts to a catastrophic decline in the ability of the poorest to eke out an existence and proves that the government has been utterly ruthless against the most vulnerable”, said the Cork WP councillor.
Cllr. Tynan said that while some high earners had seen significant income drops due to budget measures, the report was not comparing like with like. “For someone already on or below the poverty line any drop in income is devastating whereas this is not the case for those on high incomes. A recent report from a Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, showed that there are now over 90,000 millionaires in this state, three times the number of a few years ago. This is the real measure of the gap between rich and poor which has opened into a chasm under the last two governments”.