Raw deal for rank-and-file public servants the real cause of resentment

TERRY PRONE is to be commended for her column (September 8) defending civil service administrators who, she thinks, have been made scapegoats for the current ills of the economy.

They are a soft target, and Ms Prone is quite right in pointing out how unfair it is to smear large numbers of workers in this country because of the source of their pay cheque.

While she is correct in stating that the public service may not have caused the recession, the question must be asked, why has the public sector been made a scapegoat in the first place?

There can be no doubt there is a widespread perception of waste of resources within the public service.

Another of your columnists, Fergus Finlay, has written (September 9) about the large sums of money civil servants can claim in unwarranted travel expenses. Regarding the ‘parallel function’ served by administrators that Ms Prone writes about, I wonder is she referring to the exasperation felt by many over the duplication of public servant positions brought about by the failure of the decentralisation programme?

I don’t think, as Ms Prone says, that the public feel it is OK to have gardaí and teachers, but no administrators. Rather, I think people resent the fact that ground-level public staff are unfairly compensated in comparison with their senior administrators.

The report of the Public Service Benchmarking Body last December recommended increases in earnings, ranging from 1% to 15% for public servants at senior levels.

However, no such increase was recommended for rank-and-file nurses, teachers, gardaí, civil servants, local authority and health sector staff.

It is natural that in the current economic circumstances, the calls for public sector reform are getting louder by the day.

James Gaffney

11 Bracken Gardens

North Circular Road

Limerick