Monday, December 16, 2013

Hungry Ireland

While the media crow about Ireland emerging from the EU bail-out,  the cost is evaluated by the trade union movement.

The trade unions, Unite and Mandate, claim that 10% of people in Ireland are suffering food poverty and are demanding immediate Government aid for poverty relief organisations to help.
In a county-by-county report produced today, they say that Donegal is the worst-hit with one-in-nine people affected in the county with the lowest income levels.

Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly said: "Food poverty in Ireland today is part of a policy-made disaster - austerity, and the collapse in incomes it has brought in its wake.

Mandate general secretary John Douglas said food poverty means someone has been forced to miss a meal because they could not afford it.
“It may mean they cannot afford a meal with meat or the vegetarian equivalent every second day or afford a roast or vegetarian equivalent once a week. Those suffering food poverty may be lone-parent families, they may be the newly unemployed, they may be pensioners - and they may be people in work, struggling to survive on low wages.”


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