Inequality - Cost cutting must be shared fairly

The juxtaposition of many of the leading news stories of recent days should set alarm bells ringing in Dáil Éireann.

On one hand the Taoiseach and other members of the Government have been calling for wage reform, while on the other we have had the horror stories of senior figures in the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and Bord Gáis being awarded outlandish bonuses. This has all been played out against a backdrop of industrial and social unrest in Greece.

In truth, it was largely only as a result of the initiative of Transport Minister Leo Varadkar that Declan Collier, chief executive of the DAA, announced that he was not going to take his bonus award of over €100,000 this year.

The minister is to be congratulated for taking this stand and showing real leadership, and Mr Collier deserves credit for doing the right thing.

Enda Kenny has stated that it is high time that all senior state and semi-state figures who have not taken voluntary pay reductions do so.

Indeed. But in political terms, this is just passing the buck.

Many people throughout Irish society have had no say in the cost-cutting measures that have seen their incomes slashed. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach, then, to simply say that some should join in the pain voluntarily, especially when it comes to highly paid officials.

The Government must take the initiative and implement cuts, even if it requires a constitutional referendum to do so, as in the case of judges.

Many judges have taken voluntary cuts, and they should be commended for their patriotism, but other members of this society have been sheltering behind a law which precludes their salaries being reduced. The law in question was designed to protect them against official victimisation — not against national economic crises.

Such abuses should no longer be tolerated. There should be no exceptions — and especially no such spectacular exceptions — to sharing the pain fairly across society.

In terms of national income, Ireland has experienced the most spectacular collapse in Europe since 2007. In those years, our gross national income has declined by 25%. This is compared with a decline of just 2.6% in Greece.

Reflecting on these changes, the Organisation Co-Operation and Development has suggested Ireland remains one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.

Advances may have been made in recent years, but there are still everyday indications of growing inequality in our society as the Government places an increasingly heavy financial burden on the Irish people.

A failure to ensure this burden is shared fairly across society is quite simply a failure of government and could, ultimately, have dire consequences for us all.

The simple fact is that prolonged inequality inevitably acts as a catalyst for social unrest and while Irish people as a whole have shown an extraordinary and commendable level of tolerance, this should never be taken for granted.

Justice and equality demand that the burden should be shared fairly, in accordance with people’s ability to pay, and that is the simple but honest truth of where the majority of Irish people stand on this issue.