‘Misleading’ headline on public sector pay

YOUR front page headline (‘Average public sector pay hits €50,600’, June 30) was a classic example of manipulating a statistic to mislead readers.

My girlfriend is a full-time public service clerical officer who earns €24,000-€25,000 gross, 50% less than what your headline screamed.

Yes, her superiors at management level earn in excess of €50,000, plus benefits from a corrupt expenses gravytrain. However, my girlfriend works in a public-facing role on a daily basis and as a result of the negative media frenzy whipped up against public servants, she is experiencing an increasing level of abuse from the public.

In fact, she became aware of the report in question when a member of the public threw that edition of your newspaper at her.

The clerical staff in the pubic service didn’t run the country into the ground, so please do not direct the criticism in their direction. Why not investigate the management grades instead?

John Kilkenny

The Sycamores

Classis Lake

Ovens

Co Cork