Sir, – A “rainy day fund”! Does our Government think it is running a playschool? Will it ask us to look out of the round or the square window tomorrow? – Yours, etc,
EVE PARNELL,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – The Government’s plan to start a “rainy day” fund from 2019 on proves it believes that the financial emergency will be definitively over by then. However, the Government’s unilateral breach of public-sector contracts on pay and conditions rests entirely on the existence of such an emergency. It is inconceivable that the Irish courts would uphold the Fempi (financial emergency measures in the public interest) legislation that enables those cuts while the State places taxpayers’ money on deposit.
Of course, the Government is showing its deep contempt for public-sector trade unions by announcing plans to start this “rainy day” fund without any commitment to a prior full restoration of public-sector pay and conditions as defined by their contracts of employment. The unions in turn show by their silence how richly they deserve that contempt. – Yours, etc,
DONAL McGRATH,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.