Sir, – Vincent Browne has, as usual, choked the chicken by feeding it hyperbole (Opinion, July 18th).
He suggests that €80 per hour should be the maximum paid from the public purse. Perhaps he is correct, but the problem is that the market demands more than that. If one person he knows in the legal profession earns less than minimum wage, it must be that they are not able to convince the private sector that they are worth it. The public sector pays more than minimum wage in order to gain the adversarial advocacy skills (or simple horse-trading cuteness) required to protect public assets. Such practitioners are in short supply and can demand high private-sector prices, reducing their availability to the public-sector and driving up prices. Those unable to provide such a cutting-edge service are simply not engaged by the public service.
I take issue with his statement that “the fact that other professions, notably medical consultants . . . are even worse is also outrageous”. As a consultant in full-time public clinical practice, I signed a contract that specifies an agreed rate of pay, funded by the taxpayer. My contract forbids private clinical care, ensuring that my clinical skills are reserved to the public sector. Currently, for reasons of public penury, I am paid only 75 per cent of that agreed salary. This equates to €100 per hour. Even prior to increased deductions, it is a rise of €1.50 on my hourly rate six years ago, despite having agreed a much more flexible work contract and to provide care only to the public sector. I accept that it is a good rate of pay, but do not accept that it is excessive. What is interesting is the number of medical consultants who have responded to market forces and moved into full-time private practice, where they can earn significantly more, driven by the public policy that reduces public payments.
The risk of reducing public-sector pay even more is that the overall private-sector cost will outstrip public cost, as a profit margin must be included. In addition, in medicine, where specialists are in relatively short supply worldwide, the prices paid abroad are now at a tipping-point where Ireland may become denuded of those with the skill set needed to adequately protect the health of the nation.
We live in perilous times for this nation. Vincent Browne may spout cant and venom, but he will not be able to defeat the market. And, some day, he may find that feeding hyperbole to readers of The Irish Times will no longer pay for his supper, however meagre. – Yours, etc,