Bertie’s pay hike is slap in the face for poor children

I FIND it deeply worrying that in the same week in which Bertie Ahern and his colleagues received disgusting pay increases, the CSO released statistics revealing that the rich/poor gap is as wide as ever and that childhood poverty is still a very real and prevalent factor in modern Irish society.

According to the End Child Poverty Coalition, one-in-ten Irish children lives in consistent poverty (meaning they suffer varying levels of basic deprivation on a daily basis). Fundamentally, this deprivation affects their ability toengage fully with the education system. Thus children who endure consistent poverty are rendered socially immobile and so the poverty-trap cycle begins. The Taoiseach’s acceptance of this sickening wage increase sends out the clear message that it is right to enjoy such wealth while children are left behind by a society he is charged with leading.

The Taoiseach has justified his actions by stating that the increase was recommended by an independent body. Yet this body based its recommendations on the salary scales for top executives working in the commercial sector.