FROM THE ARCHIVES:With the State's finances in dire straits in 1983 the Fine Gael-Labour government introduced a fee of £7 or £10 just to apply for some jobs in the public service. Caroline Walsh spoke to a recent graduate about the implications for him.
– JOE JOYCE
WHEN EDDIE Conlon, a 23-year-old unemployed social sciences graduate from University College Dublin first heard about the new application fees he was amazed.
“I was shocked to think that they were now actually charging people to apply for jobs, telling us that we have the right to work but that we must pay for that right,” he said yesterday, mulling over whether or not he could muster up the £7 to apply for the postman’s job which appeared in the public service advertisements on Wednesday.
“Sometimes I feel it was a waste of time going to college, and certainly it was in terms of job prospects. I went on a grant and made my way through by working in petrol stations abroad during the summer.
“But now if anything that could be seen as a liability, because when you go for a manual job there’s a certain amount of incredulity.
“They wonder is there something wrong with you that you’re looking for the job, and also they suspect that you’re not going to stay – that if anything better comes up you’ll be the first to be gone.”
Since leaving UCD, Eddie has had two jobs working on unemployment surveys, and ironically that remains one area in which he still probably has a chance of getting more work.
“But there is something a bit sick about imagining that I’ll be working until the end of my days in the area of unemployment, because I should certainly hope that unemployment will not be there forever, perennially, as a problem within our society.”
At present he lives on benefit of £28.30 a week, £25 of which goes on rent for a two-roomed flat. If he does pay the application fee for the postal job he’ll only be able to do it because of having saved a bit while he was working.
“The whole expense of looking for a job eats up a lot of the dole money as it is. I buy The Irish Times every day and the evening papers, so you’re talking about nearly £1 a day for newspapers alone, and that’s just to see what’s available.
“Then there’s stationery, phone calls, stamps, and bus fares, so the idea of having anything left over for luxuries is ridiculous, a joke.”
Eddie, who is a member of the Dublin Unemployed Action Group, is angry that school-leavers are being asked to pay £10 to apply for public service jobs.
“The ridiculous thing is that school-leavers get no dole unless they are living away from home and are over 18, which is very unlikely. So it’s the parents wholl have to fork out the money, and if your parents are unemployed, you haven’t a chance.
“It sounds simple, but if your parents are better off, you’ve a better chance of getting the job simply because you’ll be able to lay your hands on the tenner.”
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