€15bn cuts but political gravy train unaffected

EU Commissioner Ollie Rehn has been – he came, he saw and he didn’t quite conquer us but he did tell us €15 billion over four years might not be enough.

Only two months ago our highly-paid resident experts were telling us that only €7.5bn had to be cut. And now after all has been said and done, our targets are once again being questioned.

The budget is now but a few short weeks away. Depending on who you listen to, the budget is going to help to sort out our banks and reduce our deficits while encouraging growth of 1.75% or alternatively is going to do down the economy by taking too much expenditure out of it.

The latter believe more jobs will be lost, more people will emigrate, less revenue will accrue to the Exchequer, and even more state borrowings will be required to bridge the gap.

Given the tight arithmetic now within the Dáil, particularly following the resignation of Jim McDaid, there is now a view that some of the independents and even some in Fianna Fáil will vote against the budget, if, the old-age pension is reduced. There is also a view that several of the Fianna Fáil TDs are so worried about their own seats they will sacrifice the Government and the economy to keep them secure.

There are others, of course, who have suggested that Fianna Fáil TDs will be emboldened by the fact that very many of them will lose their seats and that they might as well go out having done something to help secure the economy or at least feeling they have done so.

The second part of that equation is that we will then become so angry with the cuts that the new government will have to bring in that we will all go running back to Fianna Fáil when the next election comes our way.

Nice theory but one that your average TD – and that is all most of them can aspire to be – in taking us for granted just could be sealing their own fate. Already, we know that most of them have lost a grasp on reality and have no understanding or appreciation of how many, if not most, of their constituents survive, never mind live. The way they are looked after says it all.

Monday’s Irish Examiner noted that between salaries, secretarial assistance, travel expenses, and other allowances, the bill for the average TD in 2011 will come to an estimated €268,000. Not bad for 100 days or so? The average senator will cost €157,000 to fund next year – a nice do-nothing job, if you could get it.

The figures stem from the 2011 financial estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas, which were voted through the Dáil last week.

They represent a reduction of circa €1m – or less than 1% – on the cost of running the Oireachtas this year.

The Government, on the other hand, is believed to be seeking cuts of €6bn from the national budget, a figure that will impact on the vast majority of people, but will particularly affect those who can weather it least. Those statistics say much about the priorities of our national representatives.

And why would they worry? After all, the said Jim McDaid now has to be a poster boy for our current tranche of TDs, particularly those holding their seats for a long time.

He decides to resign when the Government’s majority is on a knife edge and gets rewarded not only with a “disappointment” payment for no longer being a TD but also is entitled to his pension, even though he is some ways off being 65. So he walks away with a cumulative cash payment of about €230,000, plus a pension in excess of €80,000 for the rest of his natural life.

Most of the longer term lads and lassies in the Dáil must be saying to themselves, sure what the hell, I have that to look forward to. It’s very much a case of “heads I win, harps you lose”.