What are some jobs in tourism industry?

Should Dole in Ireland be cut to €100 a week for a single people, so as to increase jobs in Tourism & Industry?

• Now before I get a mini Lecture about “188 Euro a week is impossible to live on and I should try living on it myself”, please don’t. I have lived on less. I was bored one evening, as you are when there is nothing on T.V so I got out the calculator and did some calculations. A person on Minimum wage that gets 8.65-euro hour and say argument sake works 36 hours a week. That is 311.40 a week. Take out the USC and that is 302 a week. So a person on dole gets 188 plus an allowance of at least 50 euro a week. That is 238 euro. Plus they have a medical card. So lets compare so far. If you work 36 hours a week you are 67 euro better off. Take in account Lunch at say 4 euro a week. 20 euro a week. And travel at 20 euro a week. Now you are 27 euro better off working. Congratulations you are working to pay the life style of “The Dairy State” Of course I am being generous on my calculations. I am not taking into Account the fact, that you can get rent allowance for 400 euro a month and pay just 24 euro yourself. Also you can get fuel allowance, glasses, doctor, and medicine, light dental work. I do on the other hand think that everyone has right to food and roof over their head and Health services. That is a basic human right. But why should a person who does not work have a better standard of living than a person than does work? Research link relating to my question below? I showed some people this and they nearly cried. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html I personally think that they should put social welfare down to 100 euro a week (for single person) and reduce rent allowance. Rent is artificially too high in Ireland because hundreds of thousands of people have rent allowance. It has being going on for years So do you think that dole for a single person (no children) should be put down to 100 euro a week? Forcing people to work. Plus if wages were better then it be worth their while to work. I can’t possibly make a comment on people with children that are on Welfare because children are very expensive. Children are also the vulnerable in society and have special status. So, I am only taking about single people. Please note the question above and the word “single people” I am not on about families. I think more money should be given to people that are working. (Especially on low wages, less taxes etc) The more people working the less tax will be because less people are getting welfare. That is basic economics. Give the people that are not working enough to tie them over. A basic nice safe place live and bit of cash. If I had a two-bedroom apartment no sharing and had pay just 24euro a week I be delighted. Sadly I am not into joining “The Dairy State”, because enough people are milking the system. Well the milk is nearly gone and it’s never a pretty sight to milk a dry cow. Thanks for your answers.

• Answer:

  I've been working and paying taxes since I was 16. Even when I was in college, I had a job and paid taxes. I lost my main job a year and a half ago. I occasionally get freelance work and pay tax on that (and sign off for the duration), but when I am not earning I claim unemployment benefit. I don't see this as 'milking the system'. My contributions should act as an insurance for periods of unemployment. Not claiming would be akin to paying car insurance your whole life but not claiming when you have an accident. While I accept that some people take the mick, the vast majority of people on the dole are like me, people who have contributed their whole working lives and who find themselves in circumstances which force them to claim some of their contributions back from the state. Not everyone on the dole is eligible for rent allowance, fuel allowance or a GP or medical card. Free dental was done away with last April. If those things were available to all unemployed people, I would agree with the basic rate being cut, but it would be extremely difficult for an adult to survive on only €400 per month. For most (including myself), it would mean having to move into council housing and losing their home, something that would cost the state even more in the long run than paying them a higher rate of dole. I would have to sell my car, which when you live in a rural area with no public transport is effectively isolating yourself from society completely and removing any chance of being able to network, attend interviews or pick up work at short notice. If there are people who are living it up on benefits to which they should not be entitled, those people should be targetted and their benefits reduced. But most people are barely getting by on what they currently receive. As for your other arguments, unemployed people also have to eat lunch (and breakfast and dinner). They have to pay travel costs to get to interviews, get to the social welfare office, attend training courses. Many have mortgages, loans, financial and family commitments. You talk of forcing people to work. I have been looking for fulltime work for 18 months and there is NOTHING out there. I am someone who has no issue working in jobs outside of my actual qualifications. It is a bit offensive to be ranted at by someone who knows nothing about the personal circumstances of individuals unlucky enough to have been affected by the recession and is happy to lump everyone together as system milkers.