Economy in crisis - Not enough done to avert new pay cuts

AS Greek riot police fired tear gas at workers protesting the latest round of cuts yesterday, Irish public sector workers were warned that further cuts are inevitable despite, or because of, the moderate progress reported on implementing the Croke Park Agreement.

Both events, and the egg-throwing at the Bank of Ireland AGM yesterday, are symptoms of the same malaise: bankrupt governments, and individuals whose investments have failed, trying to manage collapse in a way that keeps the possibility of a medium-term recovery alive. They are the early symptoms of the crisis that befalls any bankrupt society that must turn to outside financial institutions to keep the lights on.

Responding to the first report on the implementation of the Croke Park Agreement, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin warned “the reality is that further significant cuts in expenditure and ... substantial reductions in the numbers employed in the public service are unavoidable”. He cut to the chase, too, in reiterating that the terms of the EU/IMF bail-out mean that, “if we don’t get the savings voluntarily, then we have to resort again to pay cuts”.