We will pay price as pension debacle escalates

Jack O’Connor must have one seriously thick neck to be able to stand up the other day and castigate the alleged policies of the troika.

Whether he likes it or not he and his fellow union bosses had a big part to play in creating the circumstances that necessitated the austerity programme. The benchmarking programmes and more importantly the accepted failure to achieve any structural reform to the way the public sector works promised as part of the largesse from benchmarking contributed in no small way to our current situation. The Croke Park agreement is just another manifestation of the same failure to give the taxpayer a fair return.

There are far more pressing matters such as the continued decimation of personal pensions by the banking sector and even worse still, by government, and also perhaps the continued excessive pay levels at the top of government, the public sector and the banking sector where the unions should be focusing their attention right now.