The article below was published in the Irish Independent on 1 February 2012. It was subsequently removed from the newspaper's website. the following day, a translation of the Polish article on which it was based wa spublished, and the Irish Independent ackonwledged that the article below was "badly translated". It is preserved here for posterity. - Gerard Cunningham
Polish waitress packs in job for 'good life' on Irish welfare
1 February 2012, Irish Independent
- Greg Harkin and Norma Costello
A POLISH waitress living here has sparked fury after she boasted about living the good life on Irish welfare benefits. 'Magda' (36), not her real name, described her life on the dole in Donegal as a 'Hawaiian massage'.
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She revealed how she had packed in her job so she could spend her days walking along beaches with her partner.
He in turn bragged about the county's wonderful golf courses.
Magda claimed she earned €67 more a week on the dole than she did while working and that her welfare payments are €182 more every week than back in her native Poland.
The shocking boasts in a Polish newspaper have ignited another debate on welfare tourism, with one Labour senator last night offering to pay for her flight home.
The ex-waitress told the Polish newspaper 'Gazeta Wyborcza' that instead of working she takes advantage of free education courses and goes surfing.
"How do I live? Wonderfully. I get an allowance of €188 a week plus €59 for the flat. In the winter I get an extra &euor;20 for fuel. It's €267 a week," she said.
Magda doesn't identify the town in Co Donegal where she lives but she does call it a "s***hole".
Asked to describe her lifestyle, she went on: "The day starts in the same way. I go to the beach to watch the sunrise. It energises me for the rest for the day.
"Sometimes I sleep till noon and the nearest beach is five minutes away.
"What's our house like? Well, you can hear the ocean from the windows," she added.
Her partner Robert also bragged about life on the dole in Ireland, saying: "I won't get out of bed for &euor;8 an hour especially when I have the sound of the ocean, golf courses and beautiful scenery."
Welfare
The Polish newspaper article compares Madga's life on benefits with what she would earn working as a waitress in Poland, where the average weekly wage is just €85.
Dole payments in Poland are less than in Ireland, averaging just €36.50 a week.
There is no housing benefit and there are strict time limits on social welfare payments.
Welfare claimants can only claim for three months if they quit a job and six months if they are fired, said the report.
Instead of working Madga said she spent her time at a local surf school and learned how to do sign language at the local VEC college.
She also noted the 'generous' winter fuel payments of €20 a week which compared with no such payments in Poland, where temperatures yesterday dipped to -13C.
Last night a Labour senator based in Donegal said the claims were 'outrageous'.
Senator Jimmy Harte told the Irish Independent: "This woman is doing an enormous disservice to the Polish community in Co Donegal and to other hard-working non-nationals.
"She has clearly taken advantage of Irish hospitality. I would like to see her go back to Poland and if we can find out who she is, I'd gladly pay for her flight home."
He added: "Apart from her clear intent to take advantage of our social welfare system, to describe her home as a s***hole just adds insult to injury."