Public sector pay - Labour need to come clean on cuts

‘A small reality is this country is bust. There is no shortage of compassion; there is a shortage of money.’

PUBLIC servants must be blue in the face from the incessant demands that they take a pay cut now that the country can no longer afford deals agreed in more carefree times. Yesterday’s reiteration of those calls by economists Colm McCarthy and John FitzGerald – who called for a private sector pay cut as well – will add to the feeling among some in the public sector that they are being singled out for unfair attention.

Mr McCarthy said Government had no choice but to implement “a serious medium-term fiscal adjustment.”