Sir, – The Government’s apparent inability to curtail the payment of excessive retirement packages to senior public servants, as recited by the Tánaiste in the Dáil recently, rings hollow (Dáil Report, September 16th). We already have Ministers telling us that the country is effectively “in receivership” and we are borrowing heavily to meet current expenditure. Thus there is a clear case of “inability to pay” and a sound basis for disputing the validity of existing contracts. Our politicians had no qualms whatsoever in passing legislation in April 2009 permitting insolvent private pension schemes to disregard past commitments and reduce benefits to pensions in payment. Why should not the same considerations pertain here?
It is absolutely imperative that some significant adjustment is now applied to the upcoming packages of senior public servants, many of whom were in positions of responsibility during the profligate years.
It is simply not good enough that changes will not be made until after this present cohort have ransacked the coffers.
This smacks of protecting vested interests or simply a fear of tackling the inner circle. It’s time for the Minister to seek independent and aggressive legal advice. Failure to address this issue will make the Government’s efforts to justify harsh budget measures directed against ordinary citizens absolutely impossible. – Yours, etc,