Some of the most powerful and well-paid vested interest groups are still pursuing their own selfish interests, writes Stephen Collins
WHILE THE Government and the social partners appear to be edging towards a deal on an economic recovery plan, there is still no sign of a widespread public acceptance of the need for real sacrifices in the short term to prevent the country from slipping over the edge into economic disaster.
It is truly depressing to see some of the most powerful and well-paid vested interest groups in the land pursuing their own selfish interests with utter disregard for the common good. The ones that immediately spring to mind are the ESB workers and the overpaid RTÉ “stars” who have scornfully rejected the notion of pay cuts.
The decision of the ESB management to go ahead with the current pay round and give its workforce a 3.5 per cent pay increase in 2009, when almost everybody else in the country will endure a pay freeze or pay cuts, is an abdication of responsibility to the citizens of Ireland who are its shareholders.
The ESB workers are on average the best paid public servants in a country that pays its public servants very well. The rest of the public service will, at a minimum, have to live with a pay freeze this year and in the years ahead, while private-sector workers will be lucky to retain their jobs, never mind get pay increases.
One of the key factors making this country so uncompetitive in recent years is that we have the most expensive electricity in the European Union. The main reason for this is the exorbitant cost of paying the ESB workforce. Yet instead of trying to reduce this cost, to save jobs at a time of national crisis, the management of the company has given its workers a handsome pay rise against a background of falling prices in the real economy.
As the ESB is a commercial semi-State company, the Government cannot directly control pay rates but, given its role as the shareholder, it should insist on taking the entire company profit as a dividend this year, as a first step towards sorting it out and bringing Irish electricity prices into line with neighbouring countries. In the longer run the Government should resolve to end the crippling monopoly position of the ESB once and for all.
The behaviour of some of RTÉ’s “stars” in shamelessly defending their exorbitant salaries is another example of the lack of genuine patriotism that infects so many layers of Irish society. The top salaries were never warranted to begin with but, with RTÉ’s advertising revenues plummeting, they can no longer be justified on any grounds. Again the management of a State company has to accept responsibility for allowing itself to be manipulated for years by some of its best-paid employees.
Our political leaders have still not done nearly enough to get the public service and the rest of society to face up to the need for real sacrifices in the interests of the country’s survival. The Taoiseach and his Ministers woke up to reality so late in the day. A Government that signed off on a clearly unsustainable pay agreement last October, having paid a public service pay round increase of 2.5 per cent a few weeks earlier, was always going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to reverse engines and bring the public with it.
The Taoiseach and his Ministers attempted to give a lead by taking a 10 per cent pay cut in Ministerial allowances but much deeper cuts will be required if they really want to jolt people into a full realisation of the current danger. Over the past 10 years the political system indulged in a splurge of pay increases, expenses, perks and feather-bedding that truly reflected the madness of the time. A root and branch reform of the system, beginning with a cull of Ministers of State, Oireachtas committees and a real reform of the expenses regime, would be a start.
Politicians have a tough job and the vast majority are extremely hard-working, but they are now well paid with a basic salary of more than €100,000 a year before generous, unvouched expenses are taken into account. In recent years, as jobs in the political system mushroomed, many TDs turned into family firms, with spouses, children and relations being employed as secretaries, parliamentary assistants or constituency advisers.
The whole edifice is a luxury that the country can no longer afford. In any case, all the politicians, both Government and Opposition have to give a lead if others, who are far less well-off, are to be expected to endure real reductions in pay and cuts in the availability of public services.
The trade union leaders have shown a sense of national responsibility, and seriousness of purpose, in getting involved in talks about reducing public spending by €2 billion this year. Even if agreement is reached, that is not going to make the pain any easier for people on average incomes who will have to endure the brunt of the economic storm.
With the Government having to find another €4 billion next year, and the same again the year after that, hard times are certainly coming again, possibly on a scale that the country has not experienced since the 1930s. The squeals of protest that have already been heard from those who will be asked to pay a paltry €200 on dwellings they own apart from their family home do not inspire confidence that necessary measures, like the introduction of a residential property tax, will find wide acceptance.
The Government has an enormous task in persuading people of the need for real sacrifice. Agreement with the social partners will be helpful but it will only be a beginning.