Madam, – Fintan O’Toole’s opinion piece (November 2nd) suggesting that all public salaries should be reduced to or capped at €100,000 for the next four years is surely a serious runner for the Government to consider in the budget, given the size of the current public sector pay bill.
I recognise this will not sit well with many people and assume a number of public sector workers – particularly in the higher levels – will not agree with me. I would suggest that if the proposal is not acceptable to them, then they might seek employment in the private sector if they would prefer to (potentially) earn a higher salary during the suggested four-year period, as the State is simply not in a financial position to pay high salaries at the moment – which is the case for many private sector employers at the moment as well. This measure is entirely circumstantial, and when Ireland is hopefully in a stronger position in the near future it would of course be reasonable to re-visit the matter, but until then extraordinary measures need to be implemented to save our country.
This approach also might allow for the current level of public services to be maintained (potentially along with employment levels), instead of offering voluntary redundancy as the HSE plans to do. For this measure to gain any credibility it needs to start at the top, with all members of the Dáil leading by example. I invite any member of our current Government to respond, outlining their opinion on Mr O’Toole’s proposal and how they feel it might be implemented.
If it cannot be implemented, I request a justified reason why this is the case and any ideas as to how any perceived barriers (eg Croke Park) can be overcome. I imagine the all-important market lenders would be interested in any response as well.
Ensuring that Ireland recovers as soon as possible is of deep interest to me as the sooner this happens, the sooner I have the option of moving back to my family and friends at home – which at the present time seems will never happen (I am formerly of Wexford). I hope Mr O’Toole and your other contributors can continue to stir up debate with more ideas as to how Ireland can recover, and I hope that our Government and Opposition has the good sense and ability to implement suitable solutions, which so far has not been evident. – Yours, etc,