Overpaid ministers are out of touch with reality

ON front page of Irish Examiner on Thursday, April 2, you showed more than 700 people queuing to receive free food parcels.

This is so sad to see in a country which was so prosperous for the past 10 years.

The same headline has Brian Cowen predicting that there will be five more years of pain. How many people will be in this queue by 2014?

What amazes me is that there are 166 people working in Dáil Eireann who are getting an attendance allowance just for turning up at work. They are all being paid a mileage allowance and various other expenses and they don't even have to furnish receipts for these monies. Twenty ministers of this 166 are supplied with drivers and cars which they don’t have to tax, insure or pay fuel costs. These people are out of touch with reality. Brian Cowen has said we need to cut public spending — now would be a good time to start and the Dáil would be a good place to start it.

Jack O’Loughlin

Kilcoran Park

Youghal,

Co Cork