“Unfortunately, Madeira’s Institute of Social Security is more concerned with photography and newspaper headlines than with Madeiran families,” claim JPP (Juntos Pelo Povo) Party spokesperson, Lina Periera.
Yesterday’s Social Security headline, “Fewer families are in a situation of economic deprivation in Madeira,” hit a raw nerve. Talking to journalists, Lina Pereira said that the Social Security’s comment “demonstrated profound ignorance and that the Institute should be well aware of the real situation thousands of Madeiran and Porto Santeans are going through at the moment.”
Lina Pereira reiterated the INE (National Institute of Statistics) figures, reinforced by the European Anti-Poverty Network, which show that the Region has the highest rate of poverty and social exclusion risk in the country, with more than a quarter of the population receiving less than 550 euros per month. “Not to mention the thousands of working families who, after paying their household expenses, credit cards, health, and education fees are left struggling.”
Faced with this situation, “we have a President of the Government who sticks his head in the sand stating that no one in Madeira receives less than 550 euros and a Social Security that shares this narrative and cares more about statistics than about People!” he said.
“Proof of this is that only this year, in 2023, the first real study on the phenomenon of Poverty in Madeira took place, it’s not a new problem. The people have been suffering for decades: if the true situation of families is not known, how can Social Security say that there are fewer and fewer people in need in Madeira?” He asked.
Finally, he asked. If the Institute of Social Security is unaware of the real extent of the problem, why have they increased the amount of bureaucracy needed to obtain Social Security support? For example, the OAP supplement. It is inadmissible that for a senior citizen to receive the supplement, they have to locate the document on the internet, print it, fill it out, and deliver it to a Social Security counter: “How can an elderly person who does not even know how to use a computer, do this? With this one example, we have proof that Social Security statistics do not represent the true reality of the economic deprivation that thousands of families go through. This is, at the very least, shameful.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
