Since the foundation of the state (and before) has there ever been a politician or a political party or a political movement that has been able to resolve the individual ills of all the citizens of the state?
I’m gonna take a guess and say no.
Life is a struggle for most people and most families.
There are facilities there for people to avail of to lift them out of poverty.
Education is free but costly (books/uniforms) and getting sick is costly.
But guess what, it’s the same in the majority of countries and I have been to an awful lot and Ireland stands up better than most.
Is it Utopia, Shangri La or Xanadu ? No.. but it’s better than most.
Parents must take a portion of the blame. Child poverty is for the most part, inter generational. Bad choices made by parents leads to poverty in children.
Back in the early 90s I worked in The Flying Bottle and by Christ it was an eye opener.
Fathers knocking back pints and eating through cigarettes bitching about the government not providing, mothers picking their kids up from school and going to the pub and kids doing their homework on a table while the mother tries to sell vouchers received from St Vincent de Paul.
Plenty of fellas had good jobs going in there also, but did they put anything away for their kids future or their own retirement? Drank their salary.
That happened across all areas of Cork.
There is brilliant tax relief for anyone who wants to put money into a pension but people would rather complain about the government if they only end up with a state pension.
No government will solve all problems and parents should accept that it they put tattoos on their necks, the chances of getting a well paid job is low. And any subsequent kids produced will grow up in a low income family.
If your a parent and you allow you 13 year old children out at 3am to do god knows what then you child is going to become a statistic.
If you fail as a parent to ensure your kids study then they will get a poor job and their kids will grow up in poverty.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael won’t solve the countries problems but they have put things in place to ensure that citizens who avail of those things put in place will improve over the years.
Sinn Finn and PBP will be no better or worse. The “We are Cork” brigade think if we round up all the immigrants the land of milk and honey will return. Did we have a land of milk and honey before they arrived?
If you have a job and you earn a good wage, put money into a tax efficient pension fund and don’t complain when you retire if you don’t and all you have is the €15k annually and you can’t afford to live.
I see people working in the place I work now starting at entry level salaries and living on credit cards to fund holidays and using pay day loans to get by.
Save for a deposit ffs.
Own your own shit and stop waiting on the government to do every thing for you.
They will help, but they can’t and won’t solve.
