Government disconnect

It is hard to fathom the utter disconnect between the Government and, in particular, its Labour wing with the economic reality we are mired in.

This week, Joan Burton had a risible Marie Antoinette moment.

Asking the decimated private sector to again cough up more, this time by way of PRSI, while blithely ignoring the fact that it is the public sector, and in particular her own department of Social Protection, who lose most days to sick leave and most millions to the national coffers. She expects people who struggle to put bread on the table to go on funding cake for the cosseted public sector.

The “cake” may be bloated pensions, increments, allowances, empire days, and whatever other concessions politically connected unions won for their members during the days of boom and delusion.

Further aggravation is caused by Labour and union personnel opining that the salaries people earn in the public service are not that great when one takes into account mortgages and college fees, etc. If only that plea were enough to defend private sector wages and jobs.

Reality bites for one section of the community, sound bytes for another.

Then, how, can one expect any sense of justice or fairness from a government where no one even raises the question of how a TD gets off scot free for making a deliberately false Vat return.

Words such as “fairness”, “justice”, “rights”, and “responsibilities” apply like sticky labels where they are — or seem to be — politically expedient. An Alice in Wonderland country for sure, where words mean what you want them to mean.

One thing is sure though, it would be hard to find any fundamental difference between the Tweedledum that was the last government and the Tweedledee that is this one!

Margaret Hickey

21 Castleowen

Blarney