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The Daily PollA ‘WELFARE WEDNESDAY’ drinks promotion at Liz Delaney’s pub in Coolock, Dublin is getting a lot of attention.
The promotional poster shows the logo of the Department of Social Protection and several beers and spirits being offered for €3.
Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone said the promotion is “irresponsible” for its targeting of welfare recipients.
So today we’re asking, Do you think the ‘Welfare Wednesday’ drinks promo is irresponsible?
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Is it irresponsible? Probably . Is it worth its weight in gold in free advertising? No doubt about it.
Considering 98% of the money that passess through that place and ‘The Blacker’ is dole money, fair play to them they know their market.
If anyone wants to have a look at the very bottom of Irish society, go to the blacker on a Saturday night.
I wonder do they pay for water there?
Going slightly off topic, the government should make it easier to start a business and be self employed, they pay massive amounts of tax for what they earn. They should reduce the tax on them and make it easier to start up business. Ideally, this should separate the people who fell on bad times (the majority) from the unemployable lifers that everyone on here seems to hate. Help people to help themselves attitude, After a while maybe welfare could be changed slightly to remove the whole poverty trap aspect.
It’s not really irresponsible because it’s only highlighting what already goes on. The problem lies in the fact that it now upsets the sensibilities of those who think the generational welfare state doesn’t exist.
Welfare should be a short term thing
I reckon that the attention given to alcohol prices lately is the start of the governments inevitable attempt to look after their cronies in the Vintners federation and pub trade against the rise of Wetherspoons.
Next we will be hearing about how it will be so irresponsible for a pub chain to open up here and be selling pints for below three euros and how people will be staggering around out of their minds. Not to mention the effect that it will have on children and families. So of course the government will have to put on it’s nanny state hat and rescue us all from ourselves.
Wait for it folks, it’s in the post. ;-)
No…..having perpetual welfare for anyone who can claim residential status….that’s irresponsible
But if you try and do anything about it you are targeting the “most vulnerable ” in society. You would need a serious mandate and balls to tackle this.
This government has neither.
I have a friend whose been on the dole since he left school 20 years ago, nice house always money for a pint, he never once said thanks.
Do you know how much they get on the dole? Unless he has severe mental health problems or disabled I find it hard to believe he would be left on JSA for 20 years. Some people do like to make things up as they go along and exaggerate a lot.
So I don’t have a friend, he has had full time employment for the last 20 years, he has never got the price of a pint and he lives in a shit hole
The only irresponsible thing is people drinking pints of Coors. Why, just why?
No. People willl still drink regardless of any promotion
Politicians will speak out about this, as they sip their below cost beverages in the Dail Bar.
I’m going to wait to see the results of the poll before I decide if I’m offended or not.
Not irresponsible in that it is a drinks promotion, irresponsible that it is being aimed at people in receipt of social welfare and who should have better things to spend taxpayers money on like, oh I don’t know…food, bills, their children, further education for themselves to gain employment
And they should be forced to wear sack cloth and ashes as well. How dare someone who has worked hard all their life and now finds themselves out of work, even think of enjoying themselves on a wet Wednesday afternoon.
Because everyone on the dole is a scrounger and waster, Or even, God forbid, An immigrant who is only here for the welfare and the Millions of prams and buggies that they can leave at bus stops.
Well said Brian, Your comment is the about the only sensible comment on this topic!
Not really, but only because I have a bus pass and so can avail of this offer.
It’s clever marketing, they are aiming to her niche market and getting a ton of free publicity in the process.
Some people drinking their welfare away is hardly new, but seeing it exploited is possibly offensive to hard working, tax paying people like myself, a percentage of my wages are paying for their session whilst I slog away.
If anything they are just getting getting more bang for their unearned buck.
As for the myth of being the most vulnerable in society, most people on long term welfare claim so much other things that the money they collect from the post office is just their disposable income.
If you ever do find yourself in a situation that you’ve lost you’re job, as i have, you’ll find that working in the past makes it harder to actually get onto the welfare sustem. And instead of going to citizens advice, speak to someone o long term welfare to learn all the “tricks” and “entitlements” and how you go about claiming them.
I see you got a red thumb for saying what’s very true unfortunately. Their is a massive difference between people who loose their job and (lifers) people who will never work.
Why does everybody on social welfare drink in a pub i would say the vast majority dont cause they cant afford it sure some people that work can barely afford it.
You have to admit it is very funny! Irresponsible BUT funny..
And since when is the drinks industry responsible generally? End of the day it’s a business trying to make a profit. When I worked nights there used to be a pub hopping locally 9 o clock in the morning but it wasn’t dolers it was everyone off night shifts.
At the end of the day this pub is after getting a lot of free advertisement!
If a person is on the dole over two years then cut him off and throw him out of his council house and he can either starve or sort himself out. Too many wasters in this country and f*cking gobsh*tes like me paying for them. The sad reality of this country is those of us who work pay for everything but are entitled to f*ck all !!
you are right , it is normally considered cruel to keep animals in a cage yet this is what welfare does, gives you enough not to bother trying to change your circumstances plus steals from working people in the process.
They’d just go onto disability assistance if their dole was cut off.
That’s if they have a disability of course. No one ever would lie to a doctor of course.
Never mind the fact that it’s incredibly hard to get actually get disability allowance and lying to your doctor isn’t going to get it for you. Kids with things like severe Autusm are having trouble getting this allowance once they turn 16 and that’s with a proven lifelong disability diagnosis. But don’t get facts gets in the way of a good nonsensical rant.
Over 100,000 people are on disability allowance so it can’t be that hard to get on it.
You haven’t a clue
Just because you can’t argue with that statistic you say “you haven’t a clue”. Weak argument!
A few of my friends are on disability allowance and they had no trouble getting on it. They must have tightened the rules.
and people will end up turning to crime..John Doe please do not have children.
Ohh god I hate when people tell other people not to have kids on the journal.
John Doe could be a really great father for all we know.
All he was saying was that sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Giving people handouts forever doesn’t do anyone any favours in the long run. It traps people in a rut of poverty. Help people to help themselves out of poverty, don’t help them stay in poverty forever.
Drinking to much is irresponsible, we’ve being ripped of for far to long in Ireland, hopefully this is a new trend thanks to WS for bringing some competition to the land
In the Dail bar , everyday is welfare Wednesday, whats good for the goose and all that. It is funny watching those border patrol shows, last week’s Canadian one , the reason they let the Irish lad in was that he had to go home 2 weeks to collect his welfare…. Ive never been able to afford a holiday to Canada and Im paying for this guy. I think I am doing it wrong.
Dublin West Senator?since when have Senators a consistency.
I’m confused!
I’m always being told that people in receipt of welfare are on the ‘breadline’ is that ‘before’ or ‘after’ the ‘Alcohol Line’?????
It shows genuine hard working taxpayers what they are funding for certain people
If the dunlaoire elite can get pint,s for €2-50. Without the outrageous remark’s why can’t the north side people get it as well
The problem isn’t with the cheap prices, its with targeting it at welfare recipients who should have better things to spend their money on.
I am not paying my taxes for some waster to go get locked and here is me stuck in work.
Who cares
Welfare comes from taxes. If you’re working it means you’re paying for people to go out drinking on a Wednesday night. Optics if nothing else.
The 297 people who voted for yes or no obviously care.
If you’re on the Dole and your looking for a Pint on a Wednesday rather than a job, there is something wrong.
And that’s not me having a go at people who are genuine job seekers. Nor am I really having a go at people that drink welfare money. I think its quite sad that a person is content to live on a €188 per week in perpetuity.
But what does annoy me are pubs taking advantage of the situation by encouraging a stupefyed underclass.
If it was 5 euro a pint and someone wanted 1 they would pay it. It’s good to get a bargain when ur on the dole.
I would limit it to just one or two – not everyone on the dole is a sponger, a couple of cheap drinks gives some illusion of a social life at least.
I flew in from Lithuania this morning to sign on. Back to work again tomorrow. Ireland is great country.
That is were the problems lie in the welfare system, at least if a single mother or someone on disability receives their welfare payments the money goes straight back into the Irish economy. Even someone on the long term dole and spends their money on drink and fags, the tax off it still stays in our economy.
As an adult you and only you are responsible for your self if you want to drink your self into oblivion off with ya
The cheaper the drink the more people will drink…cause they see it as better value, to have this offer for people on social welfare only has so many problems I don’t know where to start. I personally am on the dole for 5 years, and as soon as became unemployed I quit drinking. Niw I don’t sit around doing nothing either and certainly would not spend my money on drink. I have educated myself, worked as a used and abused intern and now I am on casual working weekends. I get insulted when people try to marry the idea of unemployment and alcohol…. It’s simply unaffordable when 65% of my payments go on rent and rest is to pay for bills and food.
To portray the Blacker or Liz Delaney’s as packed full of social welfare recipients is wrong as many of the clientell have job,s so it’s a mixture of working class from surrounding area’s, many promotions are advertised for different nights and as Wednesday is labour day this promotion is aimed at those in receipt of S.W.
Spending a tenner on three pints is hardly squandering your payment on drink and if you choose to spend more you shall, the begrudging comments aimed at those on social welfare reflect a certain way of thinking E.G my taxes pay for them. Many people cheat our system but it is unfair to label all as scroungers and SW lifers. When we had almost 100 per cent employment the average worker still paid high tax , countries with no welfare systems still impose taxes on workers so your tax is going to bailout Bondholders firstly while the Government then borrow “at interest of course” billions to service the public sector wage bill and Social Welfare Spending. Fix the system instead of pointing fingers at those who avail of it. Many student nights are also advertising cheap drink to those with little disposable income and no one complains about that plus the arrival of Witherspoons has seen a bandwagon of negative publicity about cheap pints. Why should a pint be a fiver more tax take happy LVA.
The amount of crap-slinging in this thread is outright disgusting. You all have such negative perceptions of people on social welfare. It’s not just the unemployment or the debt that people on the social welfare face that brings them towards suicide, it’s also the way you people look at recipients of social welfare while sitting on your ivory thrones. However, I will be the bigger person and say that I pity you and your close-mindedness. I hope you never find yourself in that situation where people would rather spit on you than acknowledge that people have fallen on hard times.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t free publicity as they could be selling pints for a €1 and no one that’s not a local would be drinking there and everyone that is a local already knows about it..
The moral panic of dole recipients all falling over themselves to drink themselves stupid is not only ridiculous but also insulting. Unemployed people deserve to have promotions directed toward them to provide a cheap night out as much as students, after work promotions, etc. Many cinemas have a Social welfare deal. Those on SW who do spend a lot on alcohol will do so anywhere. I am sure Noone is bitching about it over pints with colleagues in the Dail Bar…
I thought they could even afford water?? Just another sign welfare is too high.
I think this is wrong on a few levels. Let’s reverse it and ask Why should people on welfare get discount drink? Does this encourage or make being on welfare more attractive?
Then there’s the view of the gombeen publican who will go to any lengths to get the quid even from a welfare recipient.
It’s tacky.
When you see the Government trying to stop the low priced beer in the supermarket outlets then you see this from a pub coming in the back door yes of course it’s terrible especially when they go after this section of punters
spot on littlefinger.
No one seems to have a problem with diceys selling pints for 2 euro sunday and Monday so I don’t know what the problem is
Do you have to present your welfare card as ID?
If you dam I lost mine in 1996
The people on the journal want those on the dole (even if your looking for work) to be depressed and treated sub human…. make em work for free! then they will be employed with welfare id love to see them come home after a weeks work with no wages! Oh but then i suppose they will always be on welfare but the journal readers know best! They will be protesting for less human rights for those geniunely looking for work! The journal readers only care about themselves anyways
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