It's a depressing truth; Ireland is in a recession. And it just keeps getting worse. Almost everything has been cut. There's two things which are particularly affecting me - Medical cards & Free college education. Things just keep getting more & more expensive. And my parents haven't got a pension.
Anybody over the age of 65, who is a resident of the Free Republic of Ireland is entitled to a card, which entitles them to free medical healthcare. Everything is covered. The cards were introduced in 2001 when Ireland was in the height of prosperity, money was flowing free. Everyone had LCD TV's, Audi's and 3 sun holidays a year. So while everyone was in the mint, the elderly got medical cards.
Now there's a recession. A poxy recession. So in the budget that has pushed the price of most things up, they revoked the medical cards for certain categories. Like 2 older people living together are not entitled to a medical card. Loads of conditions like that, which is very unfair. And my parents are about twelve years away from being entitled to these benefits. But not now.
If the government added 50CENT to the price of alcohol, they wouldn't have to cut the medical card.
My parents don't have state pensions. Their state jobs give them pensions, but that's less than €200 a week. So my parents are going to have pay for medicine and heat and electricity all on about €400 a week. That is tragic. I don't know how their going to live through the future. Why am I worried about it?
Anybody who is attending (3rd level) college for the first time in Ireland is entitled to a free education. I had to pay €900 as a capitation fee to college, but that covers the whole year, and is a small amount in comparison to what I would pay without the free education thing.
The government is introducing college fees again. €2,700. For 1 year of college. That's ridiculous. So all the Colleges in Dublin and surrounding areas are going on a protest march to the Department of Education! We're 'fighting the fees'.
Them fuckers aren't making me pay!
2 comments:
You would lose your damn mind if you live in the US at this moment in time, especially in regards to health care and education. I still have over $30,000 in debt from college tuition and my father, whom suffers from diabetes has a monthly insurance premium of over $1,000. Yep, land of milk and honey alright!
I just came across your blog. Really interesting stuff, man. Nice job. :)
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