Madam, – I was appalled to read, (Sarah Carey, Opinion, December 30th), that on December 23rd the Department of Finance issued a press release stating that the 15 per cent pay cut for senior civil servants earning over €200,000 and the 12 per cent pay cut for those earning between €165,000 and €200,000 would be reduced to between 3 and 5 per cent. A good day to bury bad news.
Only for the time of year I would have thought it was an April fool’s joke.
The pay of civil servants earning only €30,000 and less has been cut by 5 per cent. In several private companies that have had to implement pay cuts, those on higher salaries took greater pay cuts. This is fair. On Budget day we were told the same would apply in the public service. So the vast majority of civil servants were duped into accepting pay cuts of 5 per cent or higher on this basis. This reversal is outrageous.
I concur with Ms Carey that it cannot stand. How can senior civil servants have any moral authority over their staff if it does? This country is crying out for consistent leadership from so many quarters. The Government must do a U-turn on its U-turn. If it doesn’t then truly we are a supine people. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I agree that cutting higher public servants’ pay by 15 per cent was “not fair”. Cutting by up to twice that would have been fairer. – Yours, etc,