Simon Harris 'not happy' at people 'languishing on long-term unemployment'

Tánaiste Simon Harris has denied that his comments on the dole not being a “way of life” are controversial, insisting that he is “not happy” to have people “left languishing on long-term unemployment”.

In his speech at the Fine Gael ard fheis in University College Cork (UCC) on Saturday evening, Mr Harris warned that there will be punishments for those who are on unemployment benefits long-term.

“Social welfare must always be there for people when they need support. That is the mark of any decent society,” the Tánaiste explained.

“But support comes with responsibility, too — everyone who can work should be expected to make a contribution.

“The dole is a safety net, not a way of life.

“At a time of full employment, it is simply not acceptable for any person to remain on the live register year after year after year.

“That is why we want to see a new Pathways to Work plan, the same kind of activation strategy that was successful in previous Fine Gael governments.” There are 4.8% of adults on the live register, with the Government repeatedly praising the country for having full employment.

Mr Harris argued that he did not just say that “the dole cannot be a way of life”, but also that “we’ve got to provide opportunities for those people”.

“We've got to break down barriers,” he said.

“But you can never write somebody off and say, ‘Here's your dole payment, we're satisfied as a country’. We should never be that.

“I've also talked about anybody who can work being able to make a contribution. I'm talking very much about the long-term unemployed.

“There are people in this country, despite having full employment, who haven't worked in many, many, many years, and we've got to work with them. We've got to engage with them.”

Mr Harris has said that the Government had previously engaged with people to get them back to work, and the coalition will “work on a new pathways to work plan to help”.

When asked if he believed that the comment might be controversial, Mr Harris denied this, saying that “some people want to find controversy in everything”.

“I think these comments are quite straightforward and logical,” the Tánaiste continued.

“We're in a country with full employment. Everyone in this republic can make a contribution, should make a contribution.

“But we should support people. It's absolutely true that sometimes there are barriers that exist in society. We've got to tackle them. We've got to provide opportunities.

“I'm not happy for anybody in Ireland to be left behind and to be left languishing on long-term unemployment.

“We should never be satisfied with that.”