Be careful what you wish for, the IMF will introduce cuts but they will also introduce more severe austerity measures than what the Government introduced in the last budget, it'll be the worst of both worlds and will completely kill off any hope of a recovery on the short term

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Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.

George Will

That is not what the IMF will do, they will suggest cuts and further tax increases before lending cash. Making Ireland a sustainable economy is very far down the list of their concerns, their concerned mainly with ensuring the Government has sufficient income to service the debt incurred and in having their loan repaid as quickly as possible. What happens after that they couldn't give two flying f*cks.

It is preferable (if it comes to it) to have the ECB calling the shots, at least they have a vested interest in stabilising the economy here and protecting the euro.

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Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.

George Will

So, it has nothing to do with public transport? It has nothing to do with healthcare? It has nothing to do with education?

The guidance of the regulator eh? mmmmm is that public sector driven or private sector driven?

PS wages have come down no more than they have in the private sector. So the disparity has remained roughly constant.

That's according to an analysis by your friend and mine, Dr. Colm McCarthy of UCD.

Agreed, 30% is not realistic. A phased lining up with the private sector will be required though. In the range of a further 10%-20%.

Recovery in the short term??????? Are you for real????? what planet are you living on????? There is no short term anything in this country except desperation.

I comletely agree with you on this one but my fear is that FF are driving us too far down the road where the ECB wont be an option and it's the IMF that will insist on coming in.

Regardless of the chicken-and-egg argument on wages driving costs or vice versa, how do justify the relativity between public and private sector wages being completely out of whack with that in other European economies?

As a percentage of ordinary day to day living these are miniscule when juxtaposed with what takes up the largest slice of income for families, namely Mortgages/rent, Cars (most people drive instead of using public transport) food and clothing.


Banking and Developer driven as are all the cronies appointed by FF.

The artificial pricing of these regulators particularly wrts to the ESB was to maintain a high price to stimulate or attract so-called competition. The ESB could be operating a break even right now which would result in prices being slashed-they handed back 300 million last year to the exchequer. But no-one is asking for that

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Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.

George Will

Joe, 30% at the higher levels is possible (not probable) and warranted and perhaps even more than 30%. The scope at the bottom is very limited if even possible at this stage. We could easily achieve 30% between wage reduction and job elimination. Take the Health service and the extra layer of management installed at the inception of the service. All those quangos that are not needed, those working in those quangos should be eliminated from the work force. I'm sure there are other areas if I had access to the relevant information.

The IMF cannot insist on anything until they are invited in.

The IMFs intervention will put the euro under huge pressure and could trigger its collapse, its my contention that the ECB has far too much invested in the euro to take such a big risk with its stability by allowing IMF intervention in one of its constituent states.

The ECB will either draw up a plan for the Government to implement or Ireland could be forced out of the euro altogether.

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Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.

George Will