No divide between working people

HOW happy the top bankers, property speculators and other fat cats who created the economic crisis must have been when they read the Irish Examiner editorial (“The hardest decisions were dodged”, Irish Examiner, April 8).

Following the harshest budget in memory, when ordinary people — public sector, private sector and unemployed — were told exactly how much they will pay for the greed and mistakes of these elites, your paper once again claimed, without evidence, that the real problem is public servants.

Incredibly, you make no mention of the fact that all public servants are paying an additional levy, averaging 7.5% of their gross income on top of all the other budget measures, to pay for a crisis they didn’t create.

Most public servants are on modest incomes and international studies show that they perform well and provide value-for-money compared with other countries. The “deep division” is not between public and private sector workers, who are in the same boat. The divide is between working people and the powerful who want us to forget who really caused this mess — and as quickly as possible.

Bernard Harbor

National Secretary

IMPACT trade union

Nerney’s Court

Dublin 1