Ahern - Public Sector Pay Cuts On Agenda

[Sierra]

Not all that surprising, but now the fun begins . . .

Public sector pay cuts on agenda - Ahern

The Minister for Justice has insisted that pay cuts in the public sector are on the agenda in negotiations with the Social Partners.

His comments come as contacts between the Government and social partners intensified this weekend in an effort to reach agreement on €2 billion of cuts in public spending.

It is understood the Taosieach held direct discussions this weekend with some of the social partners.


Mr Cowen's senior officials are expected to present union leaders and employers with formal proposals on how savings can be achieved in the public service pay bill.

Speaking on RTE's The Week in Politics programme, Dermot Ahern said everything is on the table because it costs €60 billion to run the country annually and only €40 billion is available from tax.

The Minister said this means that the tax base will have to be 'broadened' and in this regard one of the areas that could be looked at is second homes.

The Government is also planning to maintain 'as much as is possible' its €8 billion budget for capital projects.

But Mr Ahern said it will be focused more, with particular emphasis on smaller projects such as the insulation of houses and small building work on schools, which would provide work for builders.

Fine Gael's spokesman on Justice, Equality and Law Reform Charlie Flanagan has accused the Government of having no coherence and no plan and said that people were justifiably angry.

[sarak2]

....so they're serious then?

[sandar]

idiots. that scenario is typical of what has ruined this country in the first place, cut the salary of everyone, meaning that those in the pubklic service who arent needed keep their jobs, while those who are needed get less well rewarded, wehy dont they just remove those who are not needed and keep those who add value, thereby rewarding those who contribute and not rewarding those who dont, instead of punsihing everyone.

[wysiwyg]

So 350,000 really pissed off public servants and their families awaiting FF candidates in the weeks up to the elections in June.. this is going to be fun.. lots of fun

[H.R. Haldeman]

I'm becoming convinced that FF are eventually going to have to do the right thing simply because there are no other options. So I think they'll take on the PS and I think they'll throw the developers and bankers under the bus. There's no other way to make the numbers work.

[asset test]

What FF want to do is make the PS pay the price (good PR at the mo). So what if the public sector don't give them electoral support, the general public is behind them dontcha know....ANDDDDDD at the same time they absolutely NEED to look after their builder buddies.

What a mess. Can you see a clerical officer in the Dept of Social Welfare take the hit, when the builder gang in Anglo get away scot free. And the Fin Reg, Anglo boss, Fas boss et al sail away into the sunset giving us all a two fingered gesture?

We live in interesting times.

[sandar]

I would imagine a very high proportion of public sectors workeres vote labour, I wonder what the electoral implications of this pay cut will be

[Tressell]

I would imagine a very high proportion of public sectors workeres vote labour, I wonder what the electoral implications of this pay cut will be

That may be so in Dublin or the major cities, however, here in the west it would appear that most are fairly evenly split between FF/FG. For example in the office I work in, out of 15 people, only 2, myself included vote Labour. The rest support the above . This is replicated at Branch level of the Union, and the organiser and most of the Cmmtee. are FF.

However, what is slowly happening is the continual sniping and *************************ing about the Govt. and its policies, and people's patience is wearing thin from all parties.

Naturally enough the FG/Lab supporters are only to happy to point the finger, however the cracks are appearing to show with calls for the removal of Cowen and others being echoed by my workmates followed by calls for 'bring back Bertie', etc. etc.

The electoral implications of a pay cut for all will have an effect on FF in the elections, and furthermore, there are those of us that believe that all ways of defending ourselves if a fair resolution is not received, should include an ICTU call for a No Vote on Lisbon. So in essence, I believe that paycuts will have electoral implications.

[midlander12]

I think Ahern is probably trying to push Cowan into finally making a decision - is this the first sign that some at least in the cabinet realise the current drift must end? I still think they will come up with some convoluted dog's dinner of a cuts package which won't work & the whole crisis will explode again after the European elections with another supplementary budget.

[Clanrickard]

idiots. that scenario is typical of what has ruined this country in the first place, cut the salary of everyone, meaning that those in the pubklic service who arent needed keep their jobs, while those who are needed get less well rewarded, wehy dont they just remove those who are not needed and keep those who add value, thereby rewarding those who contribute and not rewarding those who dont, instead of punsihing everyone.

You really have to stop with this talking sense. It really does addle FF brains. For a party that has been used to robbing Peter to pay Paul accepting the concept meritocracy is akin to asking Jackie Healy-Rae to speak Chinese.