Madam, – Your Editorial “Mercs and perks and leadership” (March 18th) made some very relevant points. Particularly with regard to politicians, not merely pay but all the add-ons. “The message is clear and unambiguous. We have been living beyond our means and such munificence can no longer be afforded”.
Quite right, but that does not just apply to politicians. The latest CSO report shows average earnings in the public sector to be one- third higher than the private. The Croke Park Agreement should be scrapped, as should the policy to consign 25,000 public sector workers to join the unemployed. There should be a reduction in public sector pay, on an incremental scale, from 10 per cent up to 40 per cent.
What the previous government deserves to be condemned for, was allowing public spending and income tax to get totally out of kilter to the point where we had the top 10 per cent of earners paying 80 per cent of the total income tax return and the bottom 46 per cent paying nothing. What emerged was the highest-paid politicians, public service workers and social payments, and the lowest tax-take in the EU. Living beyond our means indeed. But it was very popular with the citizens who allowed their votes to be bought three times in a row.
No politician, of any party, was prepared to shout “stop” while the boom was booming. Nor, with one exception, is any one of them prepared to own up now. The exception is Dan Boyle of the Green Party who summed up the debacle in one sentence, “we spent too much and taxed too little”.
That is the major problem facing the Government. Even a return to full employment, however laudable, will not solve the problem if the tax and spend is not addressed. – Yours, etc,