Sir, – So retail sales are “shockingly poor” and the weather is to blame. I think the huge elephant in this room was, and still is, the threatened pay cuts in the public sector. With possibly 20 per cent of the workforce and their extended family units anticipating cuts in take home pay, is it any surprise they behave in a rational way economically and cut back?
Of course, in all the debate about public sector pay and reform, the fact public servants behave the same way as anyone else in response to the absence of financial incentives and to cuts in their pay seems to be overlooked. Apparently, public servants live in another virtual economy separate from their fellow workers in the private sector. So the next time Ibec or ISME feel obliged to look for “savings” in the public sector they should think of their own members’ interests first and, perhaps, say nothing. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN LEAKE
Greenlea Grove,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.