Ship of state sinking and public pay must be cut

AT the risk of causing further annoyance to Nick Folley (Letters, November 13), the plain fact of the yawning gap of billions between government income and expenditure makes public sector pay cuts mandatory.

Protesting this is akin to demanding first-class treatment on the Titanic while the ship is sinking just because it isn’t “our fault” or “we didn’t benefit from the boom” (not true), or “we are already hit by a pension levy”.

Completely irrelevant. The ship of state is sinking under a mountain of debt and it is a question of recognising how desperate the situation is, whether we are in the public or private sector.

Hundreds of thousands of private sector workers are already unemployed, and thousands of small businesses and farmers made nothing this year, considering themselves lucky to remain standing. These also have “to feed their families and pay their mortgages”.

Nor do I see any outcry to “cut thousands of public sector jobs”.

The preferred choice of government seems to be to reduce costs by reducing wages, rather than numbers. Again, a choice made on the ground in the private sector, without a big hullabaloo.

Contrary to Mr Folley’s contention, I have yet to read one letter which questioned the necessity for teachers, nurses and gardaí, all of whom are paid generously relative to the private sector, and whose jobs are guaranteed, regardless of the economic climate.

I agree with Mr Folley when he contends that cutting public sector wages in the current economic climate will damage the economy. But not taking the necessary action to close the deficit will destroy it entirely. He is also correct in citing the example of Prof Brendan Drumm’s ridiculous bonus of €70,000.

I would hope that cutting the public sector wage bill would begin with the upper echelons, which includes government ministers who could take a 50% hit without it making the slightest difference to their lifestyles.

If they were to lead by such example, it would give them the moral authority to talk about “hard decisions” with a straight face.

Incidentally, as a teacher, I think the day of protest on November 24 is the height of madness and irresponsibility in our desperate economic climate. It’s time to get real. If we don’t close the deficit ourselves, the IMF will do it for us, and that won’t be pretty.

James McGrath

Birchgrove

Hollyford

Co Tipperary