Public pay hikes will come at the expense of the most vulnerable

By Fergus Finlay

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

DEAR Taoiseach, I listened with great care to your speech at the Inauguration ceremony last week, and I have to say I was impressed. It was a powerful and moving ceremony in many ways, and it was impossible to come away from it without feeling a surge of hope in our capacity as a country.

For me, your speech was the unexpected one. I don’t mean any disrespect at all to President Higgins (that’s going to take a bit of getting used to!) when I say that I was not surprised by the powerful restatement of values represented by what he had to say. You spoke before him, and so you had the somewhat more difficult task of anticipating his vision.

You did that well, but more surprisingly, you also chose to align yourself with that vision in a very explicit way. Our new President would later speak of a wounded society, and of the greed and individualism that brought us there. Before he did, you referred to the fact that in giving a new President so resounding a mandate, the people of Ireland had set out their own hopes and dreams.

And in doing so, you said they had "rejected a particular idea of wealth ... to embrace instead the idea (of) a Republic and its people, defined not by greed or power or wealth, but by the quieter, deeper, more authentic elements: of respect, virtue, of love and duty to our country and to each other, as together we take on the difficult task of national recovery and national renewal".

So, two speeches, one immediately after the other, one by our head of State, and one by our head of government. Both rejecting the political and economic values that have destroyed our country. Both committing themselves, and us, to a fundamentally different way of looking at the world. Five years before the centenary of the Proclamation of Independence, our head of State and head of Government, standing side by side, both declaring adherence to a different kind of republic.

If everyone really means it, that’s heady stuff. And I saw you saying similar things at the launch of Inclusion Ireland’s Art Exhibition a few days earlier. The exhibition, run as part of Inclusion Ireland’s 50th Anniversary, was a powerful and eloquent demonstration of inclusion.

It was an assertion, backed up by visible evidence, that people with an intellectual disability can have real talent, and can express themselves in ways that confound their second-class citizenship. You recognised that by being there and in what you said. Taoiseach, the words are great. And I’m sure you’re committed to them. But you can’t build a republic by words. A republic has to have minimum standards. It has to be willing to be measured by how it really applies those authentic elements of love and duty that you spoke about in Dublin Castle.

In other words, a republic is measured by its thresholds of decency.

And as you were speaking, our state crossed a threshold of decency. It was preparing to throw elderly people, people assessed as being at "maximum dependency" out of the place they call home, to save a few euro.

The threatened closure of Abbeyleix Nursing Home, which only a few months ago was described in a 34-page HIQA report as essentially fit for its purpose, is a cruel and barbaric act. To be blunt about it, it represents a complete denial of the republican values you, and our President, espoused.

The words you both uttered inspire hope. Actions like that inspire despair and a deep What makes it worse is that the closure of Abbeyleix Nursing Home, if it is allowed to go ahead, is only the first in a series of measures that will attack the services we — the republic — offer to vulnerable people. The savings will be illusory and short-term — does anyone seriously believe that the state can get better value, and guarantee better care, by transferring these vulnerable citizens to private nursing homes?

Does anyone seriously believe that we can build a better society, and repair the damage of the past, by making everything secondary to the illusion of short-term savings? And what makes it worse still is that there are alternatives — alternatives that are entirely consistent with the idea of a republic. I wrote here about one of them last week, Taoiseach and I’m urging you, in pursuit of the high ideals in your Dublin Castle speech, to think about it.

Last week I suggested that it was time to consider postponing the salary increments that most public servants are due next year. I did say it wouldn’t be wildly popular, and to judge from the reaction I had, it won’t be (Although actually, while there are some extremists out there, there are also a lot of public servants who hate what’s happening to the people they want to serve). But anyway, popularity doesn’t matter. I had it confirmed during the week by a senior government representative that the Government will have to find at least €300 million to pay these increments.

The HSE alone will have to pay out around €200m. The only way they can do it is to find a further €200m in service cuts to meet the bill. This is insane. Increments are guaranteed pay increases. They range from €1,000 a year for lower-paid public servants to around €6,000 for higher-paid officials. If they were not paid next year, or even for the next few years — if they were simply postponed until the crisis is over — the HSE would see its current spending deficit almost wiped out.

There’s no injustice in postponing increments, and there’s no real hardship either. It’s a simple choice. On the one hand, cutting or eliminating essential services for vulnerable people. On the other, an automatic pay increase which is unrelated to either cost of living or performance.

The only argument I’ve seen, anywhere, in favour of paying out this money (and don’t forget it has to be found year after year), is that it would be a breach of the Croke Park agreement not to pay them.

What kind of country is it that would institutionalise an agreement to protect pay, and effectively pay for that agreement by making poor, frightened, dependent citizens suffer?

Is that an example of the meaitheal you referred to in your speech in Dublin Castle? Is that an indicator of a people seeking authentic values? Is an agreement that would have that effect a mark of love and duty to our country and each other.

I don’t think so, Taoiseach. I’m guessing, deep down, you don’t think so either. So why not? Everyone who works in the public service can actually help to protect the services they offer. And they don’t have to take a pay cut to do it.

All that’s needed is the postponement of a pay increase. It won’t solve all our problems, but it could be ring-fenced to do good. And that would enable all of us to make a tiny statement. We’re not going to cross the threshold of decency. Because we are, really, ready to stand by our republic.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, November 15, 2011