I'm not sure that people have understood the implications of the price differences between the North & the South. Wages in the North are now 40-50% cheaper than the South. If the Irish pound was still in existence, the currency would have been devalued by 25% last week.

I was in the North last week and the price difference between here is unbelievable, many products are 2 to 3 times cheaper. I already see recruitment agencies recruiting for staff in the South at lower wages, e.g Receptionist €20k. This is all going to lead to downward pressure on wages in the private sector. If wages in the public sector are not cut by more, it is going to lead to an increasing wage gap between the private sector and public sector.

If wages are not cut, we are going to see a major leakage of jobs from the South to the North in all sectors.If Ireland was a company, the M.D would be telling the employees that because we can't cut the value of our currency, we have to cut the value of wages instead. However, that level of public sector wage cuts would be nearly impossible for the Government to implement. They would have to end the rip-offs that are currently going in several sectors, including their very own rip-off- Dail Eireann

Any scientific basis for those suggested cuts? Do you take into consideration the cost of living difference between the Republic and Northern Ireland?

We need to cut 20% to 30% off the public wage bill.

Suggestions as follows;
Pay freeze for all those earning below the average industrial wage.
Pay cut of 10% for all those above it.
Voluntary redundancy package, rates equivalant to the average package being offered in the private sector.
A quango cull.
Privatise CIE.
Remove the Seanad.
Reduce the Dail to 120 members.

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What cost of living difference could there possibly be between the North & the South? e.g Dunnes Stores: Gillette Fusion razors N.I €9.50 R.O.I €16.50. How much would it cost to transport razors across the border? I think Forfas carried out a survey on prices recently, and they reckoned there should only be a 5-10% difference, at most, between prices here and prices in the North.

There's a large difference in the cost of living on either side of the border. This is reflected in wages. The standard of living of neither group vastly exceeds that of the other. Wages are relative to spending.

People often make the mistake of measuring the cost of living in another country using the income levels of their own country.

The cost of living in NI should be measured in terms of the wage level of NI.


Of course the cost of living in Poland is cheap if you measure Polish prices from an Irish income perspective. But the problem is, Polish prices are not cheap to the Polish people who earn alot less than us here. They also have the added problem that their prices are often comparable to ours for retail(clothes etc)


Same with the price differences between RoI and NI/UK.

PPP theory is too often forgotten and most likely not known by many on p.ie, apart from the odd mention of the Big Mac index.

Wages are crap in the UK and the cost of housing is astronomical in comparison.

Irish wages priced in sterling have gone up about 30% in the last 6 months. Sterling is still a major currency, although it will decline further over the coming years. The point I'm making is why would anyone buy goods and services here when they can get them 50% cheaper in the North & the U.K ? A lot of sectors of Irish society are now totally uncompetitive compared to U.K. A Christmas race meeting at Leopardstown had hardly any U.K visitors this year. This is going to cause a major impact on large sectors of Irish business. I don't think people have woken up to it yet.

[Private sector] workers in INM are already being asked to undergo pay cuts.

From what I can gather, everyone on up to €50,000 gets a pay pause, and for pay grades in excess of that, there will be both 5% and 10% cuts.

In exchange, staff are being asked to take share options. Hah!

Not sure if Tony O'Reilly's salary is effected.

Friend of mine works for a insurance company somewhere in south dublin and they are in the process of relocating to derry.

Another interesting fact my sister works for a call center in newry and my 1st cousin lives in the south, he is getting the dole and he is getting more than my sister who works a 38 hour week and uses her own diesel etc to get to work.

Im not advocating cuts in dole just pointing out a few facts.