Sir, – Two news stories from The Irish Times (February 19th).
The first, “EU to pursue compromise agreement on curbing bonuses for bankers” (Business) stated “the EU will seek to broker a tentative compromise on curbs of banker bonuses . . . to overcome eight months of conflict on how to apply Basel rules to the bloc’s lenders”.
The other, somewhat by contrast, declared, “Coalition to stand firm over cuts to premium pay for staff” and spelt out our courageous Government’s troika-inspired determination to “cut premium payments for frontline staff in the public service, despite a major protest last night involving thousands of nurses, gardaí, prison officers and fire and ambulance personnel”.
Further comment is superfluous. – Yours, etc,