HSE redundancies - Deal ignores idea of social solidarity

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney did not need to be a fortune teller to anticipate a huge interest in the Health Service Executive redundancy package. Comparatively speaking the terms are so generous that anything else would have been unimaginable.

If they had been offered in a private company there would be a stampede.

The terms also underline again Government’s proactive and corrosive role in creating a two-tier society where one group of workers is more or less insulated from the chaos unfolding all around us while others face losing jobs, pensions and, in some circumstances, their homes.