Father writes protest song over cuts in child benefit

THE DECISION by the Government to cut child benefit has prompted one angry father to write a protest song.

Frankie Simon from Knockarush, Boyle, Co Roscommon, has accused the Government of picking on easy targets like his three-year-old son Tommy.

Tommy, who spent the first 10 months of his life in hospital, suffers from acute cardiac and neurological conditions and, as a result, is totally dependent on his parents and his carers.

“Tommy is a palliative-care child, he is now living at home with us, he is loved and cared for and even though he is very sick, he is hardly ever sad. In fact, he has a great sense of humour,” said his father. “I also know that it is not Tommy who is responsible for the economic mess that our country is in – not Tommy, nor any other child in Ireland.”

Mr Simon said his blood boiled at the suggestion that children should in any way have to suffer or carry the can for mistakes others had made.

“In this time of economic difficulty, some genius who has probably never known poverty, decides to pick on the children’s allowance, an amount by the way which if it fell out of Seán FitzPatrick’s pocket would not be missed,” he said.

Visits to the shops would become increasingly difficult for many parents, as a result of the drop in child benefit, he said.

Mr Simon, a musician, has written a song, No Santa Claus This Year, to express his anger. It can be downloaded at www.nosantaclausthisyear.com.