Sir, - It is now suggested that teachers will be awarded about 13 per cent with payment spread over an undefined period. The digits on the infamous ATM machine appear to have been reversed, compared with the 31 per cent awarded to existing senators under the Buckley Report.
Inflation and the changeover to the euro have already rendered the increases under the PPF woefully inadequate - public service employees and pensioners are now poorer, in real terms, than they were when this inadequate pay deal was struck. The short-term appeal of a 1 per cent non-pensionable lump sum, last April, gives little consolation to these people, who are only now waking up to the reality of the Government's new pay and pensions policy.
This policy is that an increasing proportion of public service pay be non-core and non-pensionable. It is not surprising that the benchmarking award should be so low, since, right across the public sector, the new policy will be that those at work get additional non-pensionable awards for proven productivity and performance. It is these increases that will not be passed on to our pensioners, so pension parity is broken.
When the spinning and sound-bites on benchmarking are long forgotten, the reality will still remain. There is a crisis in the recruitment of graduates in the public service, especially in education, health and social services because of inappropriate pay levels.
The real losers, if this situation continues, will be those who work in, or are retired from, the public service. However, it will also be every Irish citizen who avails of these services and who cannot afford to pay for them privately. - Yours, etc.,
BERNADINE O'SULLIVAN,
Fortfield Road,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.