Madam, – I can no longer stand by and listen to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) dictate to our Government how it should conduct its economic affairs in these straitened times. Who are these people, you may well ask? I was one of them, albeit as a mere typist, in the mid-1970s at their HQ in that chicest of chic Paris arrondissements– the 16th. To say that I lived on the fat of the land would be a gross understatement. Such was the cossetting that, after one year at the OECD, I was barely able to cope with the ordinary demands of everyday living in the "outside world" when I returned to the high-tax misery of life in Ireland, as I was on leave of absence and had to return to my job.
The pampering we received was part and parcel of everyday life at the OECD. On site, we had a subsidised canteen, a bank, a travel agent, a post office, weekly visits by a shoemaker/dry cleaning service, a drink allowance and, the pièce de résistance, a medical centre on site, where all treatment was free and where one could go to lie down should one get an attack of the vapours from the high living. And, of course, all medical expenses incurred by OECD personnel off-site were refunded in full.
For those recruited from outside France, a substantial “settling-in” allowance was paid to compensate for the privilege of joining the OECD personnel, as if it were some sort of traumatic experience. On completion of contract, staff and contract personnel were repatriated with all their good and chattels. And finally, all salaries were tax free.
I recall a French friend telling me that my salary as a typist was much, much higher than his as a university lecturer.
Those were the perks of a lowly typist. Can you imagine what it was like for economists at the OECD? And these people have the temerity to lecture us from their feathered cocoon in Paris – no doubt very shortly our Government will tell us that they have to comply with the dictates of the OECD regarding the introduction of property tax, cuts in social welfare, and so on.
Forget about the expenses of our TDs and Senators. Why doesn’t some investigative journalist check out the current perks of the economists at OECD, the people who have taken it upon themselves to dictate future economic policy for this benighted country of our? The last person who told us to tighten our belts did not fare well under scrutiny. – Yours, etc,