Opinion: The hypocritical state – Ministerial pay increase deemed a must but public sector pay increase is deemed unjust – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Opinion: The hypocritical state – Ministerial pay increase deemed a must but public sector pay increase is deemed unjust




The year 2016 has been a rather frustrating year for the Irish public as the nation has been gripped with frequent disruption on a monthly basis with a number of public sector workers taking to the picket lines in order to force through better pay and working conditions for all, and although the disruption has been supported by many Irish citizens, the harsh reality remains that such action could have been avoided if the Government had taken care of it’s civil servants instead of rewarding themselves and exploiting the Irish public.

With the current Garda and teacher strikes dominating the headlines and looking far from being resolved, the question still remains on every Irish citizens lips is why is it that these hard working public servants have to fight tooth and nail to receive what they rightly deserve, whilst the vastly overpaid politicians in the Dáil reward themselves with out a moments hesitation.

In a year were every campaigning TD promised change if elected there has been very little to show for it with little being done to help to those in the public sector struggling to make ends meet, including those putting themselves on the frontline or those in classroom or even those hard working medical professionals’ working in unruly conditions, along with others in many different areas.

Last March the Irish public believed they voted to elect leaders to take care of it’s people but unfortunately it seems they elected a group of men and women who would rather take care of themselves first and put it’s citizens second.

Those same elected TDs who promised so much have surely got to question their motives and policies given the fact they compiled a budget that significantly rewards their own underwhelming performance whilst it seriously undercut’s the average hard working Irish citizen.

A budget that brought a €5,000 increase to politicians’ on extravagant salaries which easily surpass €100,000 per annum for most, whilst the nations unemployed, pensioners and disabled only received an extra €5. A budget that clearly ignored the working class society by offering little to know respite to the ordinary harding working citizen.

Even though those in the public transport sector successfully managed to secure better pay and conditions they did have to go to extraordinary lengths to get what they deserved.

However it is looking more and more likely that any amendments to the Lansdowne Road agreement won’t be forthcoming, with government minister’s stating they won’t give into all pay demands by public sector employees and stating that the state resources is not a bottomless pit, you can’t help but wonder if they had offered the funding sooner rather than later this whole mess could have been avoided. Funding that could have been easily recuperated by slashing the cost of ministerial pay increase’s and pensions that amounts to astronomical figures.

I finish this article by saying if the government say any calls for a pay increase is unjust, surely they have to look at their own actions first. The words ‘pot’ ‘kettle’ ‘black’ come to mind!

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