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The Earth is Rumbling
I hear an ECHO of my voice!
Others are as Grievously Angered
At Irish Injustice
The rich - poor divide in Ireland is widening considerably - like an ominous crack in the Earth's crust. So says Social Justice Ireland a membership based organisation, with a Catholic priest and a nun at the helm, and operating a sort of moral and ethical think-tank on social issues.
They scrutinised a recently published set of figures from the CSO (central statistics office) and concluded the following:
(1) Disposable income -- cash left after paying taxes etc. -- fell by 18.6% over the year for the least well-off households.
(2) While it rose by over 4% for the high earners and better off.
Social Justice Ireland calculated that, on average, the top 10% of the population received almost 14 times more disposable income than the poorest 10%.
Figures for 2010 indicate that the poorest households had a disposable income of only €174 per week or €8,900 per year, while, by way of an insult to them, the richest had no less than €2,369 per week or €123,500 per year. Dail deputies and government members would be in the top earners!
In a published statement Father Healy, the Social Justice Ireland Chairman, said: "There is something profoundly wrong with Government decisions that produce this lop-sided distribution of income favouring the richest when Ireland's poor and middle-income people struggle to make ends meet in these extremely difficult times"
I would fully agree with the findings of Social Justice Ireland and I think the moral and ethical lead should come from the Government and members of the Irish Legislature by their taking a voluntary 50% cut in their inappropriately high salaries, and by the capping their immoral expenses at say €10,000 of receipted expenses per year.
These actions would not save a great amount of money - but they would give a badly needed moral lead to a demoralised Ireland.
Time - for taking moral action is, I believe, fast running out. If the sickening imbalances are not dealt with rapidly - we may well see civil disobedience, targeting of the rich, and rioting in the streets.
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