Why aren’t TDs among first to take the pain?

IT was heartening recently to hear the Taoiseach declare no area of government expenditure can be “immune” from the possibility of cutbacks.

So, at long last we can expect that given the dire economic straits in which this country now finds itself because of government mismanagement, we are all going to see severe cutbacks in that area of the public service called Dáil Éireann.

In other words, we can all now look forward to further desirable cuts in TDs’ salaries and expenses, cuts in the numbers of an overstaffed Dáil and, finally, cuts in ministers’ pensions (an end once and for all to double, even triple, pension-secured futures). Or is all this too much to expect? Perhaps it is.

Certainly, Dr Colm McCarthy does not expect any of this nonsense in his no-nonsense report.

Strange, was it not, that a report on the possibility of cuts in the public service made no mention of that area of public service, our overpaid, overstaffed, underworked politicians (one notes how often and how deftly Mr Cowen avoids extra sittings of the Dáil — and protests from the opposition sound less than enthusiastic)?

Strange also the widespread belief among so many economists and commentators that the only way out of our economic difficulties is through widespread cutbacks involving widespread unemployment. This in spite of evidence from the past that deep cuts lead to huge social disruption of all kinds, leading in turn to huge hidden costs that succeed only in widening and deepening recessions.

This, after all, was the experience all over South America in the 1970s and 1980s.

It was also the experience in Britain in those years when central government spending actually increased as a result of swingeing cutbacks (the payment of unemployment benefits simply skyrocketed). As for the nonsense of “where will the money come from to keep the show on the road?”, a fairer tax system would surely help. More people in employment paying tax would surely help and, yes, as unthinkable as it might seem to some, recouping from those who have awarded themselves handsomely out of the public purse might help.

At the very least, doing all of this would show fairness, leadership and a sense of commitment. Or, again, is this too much to ask?

Bill O’Sullivan

Limetrees Road

Maryborough

Rochestown Road

Cork