Public pay increments - Paying more for less not acceptable

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has suggested that pay increments should be deferred, especially when public services are being cut.

If politicians accorded themselves a pay increase on an incremental basis, there would be public outrage. People would be justifiably indignant at such insensitive behaviour, and they should be just as angry if the Government shirked its responsibility in allowing what some see as a privileged section of society being accorded pay increases. Meanwhile, people in the private sector are being compelled to take cuts.

Compared with the public sector, those in the private sector have very little job security, yet they are essentially financing the job security within the public sector. Providing a guaranteed pay rise that is not linked to productivity to anyone in the public sector at this time is therefore an affront to everyone in the private sector.