Private sector banks and builders to blame

IN his letter headlined ‘Public sector unions living in dreamland’, July 27), John Kenneally appears to think public sector workers and their union representatives are responsible for our current difficulties.

He must have missed the bit where the rampant greed of private sector bankers and builders has brought our country to its knees.

He also appears to be extraordinarily out of touch with the realities of public sector pay – 83% of public sector workers earn less than €58,000 a year.

Of these, some 50,000 earn less than €30,000 per annum and 74,000 are paid between €30,000 and €40,000. None can afford the luxury of a villa in Spain, as Mr Kenneally suggests.

Mysteriously missing from most debates is the OECD report on the Irish public service published in late 2008. This showed that in relative terms our public service is one of the smallest in Europe and that Ireland spends proportionately less on its public service than the vast majority of other countries.

Mr Kenneally is correct in one thing. There is an elephant in the room – the estimated €30bn bank bailout dwarfs our expenditure on public service.

Kevin P McCarthy

Meadowlands

Ardteegalvin

Killarney

Co Kerry