I read this article and the experiences of the people within it with a familiar feeling. While the examples in this article are UK specific, the general experiences that people highlighted bear similarities to those of people I meet through my daily work here in Ireland. As social workers we are more often than not the one’s who support people in accessing their basic rights to food, shelter, income and education, to name a few. I wonder if any of you have any (anonymised) examples of the bureaucratic nightmares people here have to go through here in Ireland in order to secure basic income, basic services, food, clothing etc? I have plenty I could share. Maybe some service users would like to share their experiences themselves? If so, feel free to send any and all stories to socialworkactionnetworkireland@gmail.com. It would be great to gather a snapshot of people’s experiences of trying to access their basic rights here in Ireland and what social workers are doing to support people in this. The article here should give you some idea of what you could contribute.
Link to article: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/05/even-the-sight-of-a-cv-would-give-me-an-anxiety-attack-guardian-readers-on-benefit-sanctions
