[rsynnott]

> Almost €300B national debt

Well, 223bn, but what's 77bn between friends? About 40% GDP. This puts it fairly low as far as developed countries go (Germany's 66%, UK 97%, US 130%, Japan 264%).

> Governing is giving free houses

I mean, not notably.

> money to people who don't work

Ireland has functional full employment (about 4% unemployment rate). Social welfare isn't particularly lavish by Western European standards.

> One in five people are directly or indirectly employed by the government of a tiny country.

That's reasonably low by western European standards.

Ireland has lots of problems, but _not spending enough money_ isn't one of them. We're not a particularly high-tax country by Western European standards, and we're running a surplus. If anything we should probably be spending more, to sort out the housing crisis if nothing else.

[negamax]

Yeah GDP is cooked and is largely inflated by the foreign corporations. What does Ireland have to show for that €223B debt? All of that money was thrown into the welfare pit.

What does Ireland has to show for such a large government employees. Health service is in tatters, so is housing. Come on. Put down the rose tinted glasses.

[Fordec]

The debt was built up majority bailing out the banks from the 2008 housing crisis to the cost of $85B. If it was spent on welfare, it was on corporate welfare.

As for health,the health outcomes are 6 years more life per person for $7.1k/person/yr compared to the US which costs $12.5kpp/yr.

[rsynnott]

> All of that money was thrown into the welfare pit.

Largely bailing out the banks, actually. Debt fell to practically nothing prior to the financial crisis, then leapt up, and has been kinda flat ever since. So, I mean, arguably welfare for the rich? We were arguably over-generous with the banks.

> What does Ireland has to show for such a large government employees. Health service is in tatters, so is housing.

Again, that is because we _don't actually spend very much on it_, to a large extent. As I said, I think we should be spending more, particularly on building housing.

I'm a bit confused; what sort of changes do you want to see? Cuts to the dole? That wouldn't make any significant difference to the state's finances. Cuts to pensions (the bulk of social welfare)? I mean, good luck with that; no politician is going to run on a policy of annoying old people.

[negamax]

Please visit https://whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie/en/

Welfare dependency in Ireland is of another level. 4% figure is cooked by engaging people into government skill programs

[rsynnott]

So, the biggest items under social protection:

* Pension (10.69bn) - Can't touch this

* Illness, disability, and carers (5.6bn) - This is also largely old people; a lot of it should arguably come out of the health budget

* Working age income supports (4.11bn) - This is programmes for low-income working people.

Way down the bottom: "Working age employment supports", at 655mn. That's the dole. It is comparatively nothing.

Again, what specific changes do you think should be made? How would they be beneficial?

[SamoyedFurFluff]

Isn’t the debt then also cooked because the majority was from a government provided bailout program for the banks?