The OECD Report on employment paints an alarming picture of Ireland’s jobs crisis and shows that the Government’s strategy for jobs is failing dismally.

The key findings of the OECD report are that:

• Unlike other countries, axing jobs is the only option adopted by employers in Ireland. But other governments have been able to promote flexible working options to reduce the impact on unemployment;
• Not only has unemployment surged in Ireland, but people are getting stuck on welfare. Almost 40% of the unemployed now deemed to be long-term unemployed, with high risk they will never be reabsorbed into work;
• The likely economic recovery will be too feeble to address the problem of rising unemployment. Read the full story

This Government has taken an economic model that was the envy of the world and destroyed it. It was destroyed not by some international tsunami from abroad but by a bog-standard property bubble that was entirely homemade. As the governor of the Central Bank has found, official policy added fuel to the fire and heightened the vulnerability of the economy.

Catastrophic Budgetary policy was central to the collapse. Public spending was consciously expanded at a faster rate than the economy could support. The damage done to competitiveness was ignored. The public were led to believe that the party would last forever. The property bubble that was bringing in new tax revenue was urged on by a Minister for Finance who resisted closing down these tax reliefs. To court popularity, government became more and more reliant on a narrow range of volatile taxes. In the end a quarter of all tax revenue was coming from the building sector. Read the full story

I warmly welcome the restoration of the Housing Grants for pensioners which had been suspended by Dublin City Council for almost a year now. Fresh applications are being accepted from Monday 5th July. The City Council have now cleared the backlog of applications on the old grant. A budget of over €14m has been set aside to meet the needs of senior citizens applying under the grant. There are three strands to the grant:

• Housing Aid for Older People – a 100% grant in owner-occupied homes, where they are beyond repair, of up to €10,500 for structural repairs to roofs, rewiring, heating, water, sanitary services. The grant no longer covers replacement windows. It covers central heating where there is no system but only boiler replacement where there is an existing heating system.
• Mobility Aids – a 100% grant of up to €6,000 to address mobility problems, certified by a doctor (e.g. rails, ramps, stair-lifts and level access showers) in owned or private rented home.
• Housing Adaptation (Disability) – a 95% grant of up to €30,000 to adapt a home to suit the needs of a person with an enduring disability (e.g. downstairs toilet/showers, wheelchair adaptation, extension, etc.) in owned or private rented homes. The works must be certified necessary by a doctor and may require an Occupational Therapist Report.

The full grants above apply if the gross income of the owner and their spouse is less than €30,000, dropping on a graduated basis to 30% for incomes €54,000–€65,000.