Madam, – Ruaidhri De Barra (February 18th) urges the Civil War parties to: “Get over it and get on with it and keep the looney Left out of the equation”; may I gently remind him and your readers that it is precisely the lack of a Left-wing presence in Irish government for the past 14 years that has led to this country’s economic ruin. So-called “liberal” (read: “right wing”) politicians cut taxes so that a minority of rich people could get richer while simultaneously underfunding essential public services such as health, childcare, social welfare and public transport.
Anybody visiting our continental European neighbours who have either Left-wing partnership in government or a constitution with a Left-wing ethos will find excellent public hospitals, excellent childcare and public transport as a fundamental given. Both Civil War parties are wedded to a low- tax regime that leads to the poorer getting poorer, the sick fearing to go into our public hospitals and the old and those with intellectual disabilities being afraid and vulnerable.
Let’s get over the Civil War, move with the times, and get real about what this country of ours truly needs! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – On reading the analysis of party policies on higher education (Home News, February 17th) I was surprised at the omission of a key element of Fine Gael’s policy.
Fine Gael is proposing a radical rise in the charges for third-level education. Its manifesto states its plan involves “a graduate contribution from students of roughly a third of the cost of their course. This contribution will be made by new entrants to publicly-funded third-level institutions after the student graduates, enters employment and reaches a defined income threshold. It adds, “‘As the student contribution model begins to return funds to the third-level sector, we will phase out the student registration fee as an up-front charge”. This means that the upfront fee of €2,000 per annum is remaining for an unspecified time.
The current cost of a course for a student in the arts/social sciences or other non-laboratory subject is approximately €8,000 per annum; the cost for laboratory-based courses, namely the sciences and cognate areas, is approximately €12,000 per annum. Currently students are required to pay a fee of €2,000 per annum unless they are exempted due to income.
If an arts or social science student is now paying €6,000 over three years for their degree, under the Fine Gael proposal they will be paying one third of €8,000 per annum (€2,667each year) which will amount to almost €8,000 over three years (a 33.3 per cent increase).
An honours degree in science takes four years. Students are now paying €2,000 each year or a total of €8,000 over four years. Under the Fine Gael proposal they will be paying one third of €12,000 per annum (€4,000 x 4 = €16,000, which is a doubling of fees).
While the new fees will not have to be paid until after graduation, they will have to be paid eventually. The manifesto (section 9.9) makes no mention of any concession to students from lower-income families in terms of paying back one third of their fees. Even those who are on low enough incomes to get grants will have to pay back one-third of the cost of their degrees/diplomas when they leave.
While there is an equality case for a graduate tax related to income levels as a substitute for fees (depending on earnings), Fine Gael is proposing a graduate tax in addition to the existing third-level fee of €2,000 per annum for which its only new policy is to defer these charges by means of student loans. This is short-sighted and counterproductive in educational terms. It is also grossly unjust to lower-income students, as it intensifies the financial incentive for them not to enter third-level education. The proposal does nothing to increase the maintenance grant or modify its conditions. Its current maximum level of €3,250 is only a third of the cost of living away from home (approximately 65 per cent of students live away from home) and is only payable at this level to families with four dependent children and a maximum family income of €41,110. For most families, then, the Fine Gael proposals will involve very substantial increases in charges, with little or no support from the grants system. It is deeply regressive both socially and educationally. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I wonder what vested interests are being served by all the talk of abortion. From my analysis of manifestos, not one major party has mentioned or endorsed abortion. That doesn’t surprise me: we, as citizens, decided on the issue back in the 1990s! While people may have opinions on either side, that democratic decision cannot be changed without yet another referendum. Why is the issue even coming to the public eye? Is it an attempt to ignore democratic process and give licence to slur people at will?
I was under the impression that I lived in a republic and that the will of the people was to be respected no matter what our individual views. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Séamus Dooley (February 18th) suggests trade unions cannot be “lumped in with those responsible for wrecking the Irish economy”. While neither Fine Gael nor I have declared war on trade unions, as he claims, we have consistently pointed to the role of senior trade union officials in the sort of cosy deals which characterised social partnership over the past 14 years. Decisions to increase pay and conditions for workers (particularly higher paid employees) in public sector positions, while failing to deliver the efficiencies and value for money which they committed to, has undoubtedly contributed in a major way to the massive deficit which now faces our country. We could not afford the deals that were struck between Jack O’Connor, David Begg and others with former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. That is not an attack on trade unions; it is simply fact.
In addition, trade union leaders, who sit on a multitude of State boards must accept the burden of responsibility for reckless decisions taken while they sat on these very boards. Many of these Government appointments were extremely well paid. It is far too easy and convenient to claim that trade union representatives can sit on the boards of State entities such as Fás, the Central Bank and Aer Lingus, without shouldering some of the responsibility for the waste and profligacy that occurred within. Board members are not innocent bystanders, irrespective of whether they are appointed as union representatives or on some other basis. They are charged with the role of watchdog, with legal and fiduciary duties to ensure that matters are managed in the best interest of taxpayers and citizens. I don’t think anyone could argue that this was the case in Fás.
One of Fine Gael’s core values is that of social solidarity. I don’t think we should be lectured by Mr. Dooley, Jack O’Connor or any other senior protagonist in the trade union movement on the issue of workers or wages. Where were these people over the past three years when 300,000 people lost their jobs and were forced to sign on to the live register? Where were they when 60,000 of our talented young people were forced to emigrate? So much for workers’ rights. Where were they when Fás received a budget of €1 billion per annum to deal with training and up-skilling at a time when the Government was boasting of zero unemployment rates? Where are the answers to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee questions arising from a €2.4 million slush fund which has yet to be accounted for by Siptu? Where were the union leaders when our lowest paid workers were savagely attacked by the universal social charge introduced in last December’s budget? These are serious questions to which I have not heard credible answers.
To blithely suggest that any politician who questions the credentials of trade union leaders – some of who are paid in excess of €130,000, having objectively failed in their task to protect workers’ rights – is simply pursuing a “PD vote” is arrogant, dismissive and displays a profound ignorance of the demographics in my particular constituency. Our area has seen an enormous rise in unemployment, and everyone here, from the wealthiest parts of Dublin South East to the most deprived parts of the Inner City, has suffered enormously at the hands of poor decision-makers.
Most of the people who visit my weekly clinics in the inner city are not interested in posturing by trade union leaders about pay deals, they are focused on trying to get off the dole and get back to work. If Jack O’Connor and other trade union leaders are willing to engage with Fine Gael on solving the unemployment crisis and giving people real hope for a future in the country, they can rest assured, there is nothing whatsoever to fear. – Yours etc,
Madam, – From neutral to neutered: that’s where Fianna Fáil has taken this country and now it claims it can reverse the operation. – Yours, etc,