Sir, Regarding the letter (February 24th) about the £80m offer to nurses, I wish to support Kathleen O'Neill's opinion that the figure is being used to misrepresent the dispute, and as a stick with which to beat a caring profession. This figure is bandied about by the Government and by the media, but nowhere have I seen an attempt to provide even the most rudimentary breakdown of this costing. Is this because it would not stand up to public scrutiny?
Bear in mind, also, that the vast majority of nurses are taxable at the maximum rate, i.e. 48 per cent, and even if the much-vaunted £80m is a true figure, the Government will be clawing back over £32m, thus reducing the actual increase to £48m. Spread out over 26,000 nurses, it is hardly an earth-shattering increase.
Consultants are dissatisfied with an offer averaging £15,000, which is more than the total salary of a nurse on the first point of the new salary scale. A sense of proportion seems missing, somehow. - Yours, etc.,
Broadford Avenue, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.