Cutting public service only makes things worse

I HAVE seen a number of annoying letters recently in the Irish Examiner complaining that the public sector is too large, overpaid and unnecessary. It also annoys me to hear this artificial and forced schism between public and private sector as vested interests foment division between them so they fight over the scraps rather than unite to fight the real issues, like NAMA.

There is a case to be made that some public sector pay is hard to justify — take Prof Brendan Drumm’s proposed €70,000 bonus, for instance, a sum which seems exorbitant in the current climate and which could pay the salary of a nurse or two doing very necessary work on the front line where it matters.

However, the definition of “public sector worker” includes teachers, nurses, bus drivers and gardaí, among others.