Do we really have transparency in private sector?

I READ with interest Emmet Murphy’s letter of August 13.

The size of wage packets at the top of the public sector can be confusing.

Comparisons of the average salary scales of the public and private sectors generally do not match like-with-like. The percentage of skilled workers is higher in the public sector than it is in the private sector.

The wage rates for all grades in the civil service, senior and junior, are freely available on the internet. The remuneration packages of the elite in the private sector are a more closely guarded secret.

Some senior managers in some semi-state bodies are scandalously overpaid. The same is not quite so true in the civil service. There are only 40,000 full-time civil servants out of 400,000 people working in the overall public service.

When times are good, few would choose a career in the civil service as their first option. When the going gets tough, everybody sneers at the soft target. We must not lose sight of the bigger picture. We do have fairness, transparency and full accountability in the public sector. Do the same criteria govern the private sector?

Michael Mernagh

Carrigaline

Co Cork