Public workers break the ice

I WOULD like to bring to the attention of your readers the huge debt of gratitude we owe public service workers during this time of national emergency.

For months now I have listened to people bemoaning the fact that public sector workers are “overpaid and under worked”.

But whom did we turn to during this crisis? Who did we expect to have the roads salted and gritted during this freeze? The public sector worker of course.

A huge thank you to the council workers here in Kerry, and indeed all over Ireland, who gave up their Christmas and who were out working day and night to get the country moving again.

An extra special thank you to the drivers who travelled in extremely dangerous conditions from Foynes and Cork in the middle of the night to collect salt to ensure Kerry had an adequate supply and who were out salting and gritting our roads despite the danger to themselves.

In our hospitals, A&E staff have been working flat out to treat people injured in falls and accidents in the icy conditions. Again we owe these people a huge thank you for risking their own lives travelling to work.

A special word of thanks also to the ambulance corp and fire service for a fantastic job getting to and assisting road accident victims.

The Government should suspend the recruitment ban so that local authorities can hire people to help with the clean-up when the thaw comes because much of the repair work that was carried out following the floods will be undone by the frost and ice.

So I ask people next time they are giving out about public sector workers to remember they are not all pen-pushers at the top creaming off big bonuses. Where was the Government during this crisis? As it happens, they won’t be back to work until the thaw, yet they expect the people whose wages they have cut and on whom they have imposed huge levies to be the ones to get us through this crisis.

Cllr Marie Moloney

Coolick

Kilcummin

Killarney

Co Kerry