Public Sector have already paid enough – Daly

In response to the proposal for a pay reduction for public servants Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael says that the public sector have already paid for the mismanagement of the economy by the current government.

Speaking at this week’s Fine Gael meeting in Athy Cllr Daly told the members that the public sector were the ones who never got the benefit of the so called Celtic Tiger. “While some could afford to benefit from acquiring property portfolios and earning enormous fees during the boom, the public servants contented themselves in the knowledge that they might never be millionaires but they had the security of fixed employment, secure income and pension rights. This was to be their comfort while they watched the jet set accumulate holiday home abroad and at home. This same security kept them going while they saved for their children’s education instead of making their fortune by having friends at the Galway Races tent.

The teachers, the gardai, the nurses and the army watched the tycoons, developers and new rich experience a wealth which they would never see because they were consigned to a fixed wage where security came before financial gain.

Now those who gained less in the Tiger days are being asked to fund the gamble which others took.

The teachers who have already had to watch their children suffer education cutbacks are now being asked to pay for the mistakes of others.

The nurses who have watched their health service become a national joke are now being looked at as source of income to subsidise the system whose mismanagement they fought.

The gardai who waited throughout the boom years for the additional numbers, resources and speed cameras are being examined in terms of a pay cut because our country never prepared for winter.

Taoiseach Cowan, these people have already paid and paid times over both during and since the economic windfall. Now they are being looked at as a source of finance by a government who failed to prepare for a rainy day.”

“It is time for our government to put a plan for economic recovery together, to develop a spirit of confidence in the future and to supply leadership before forcing a large section of the population to throw their earning s into the bottomless pit of uncertainty”concluded Cllr Daly