Sir, – Eighteen months in power and it has finally dawned on a Government Minister, James Reilly, that the way to cut our huge deficit is to tackle public sector pay, which accounts for 80 per cent of spending.
These salaries were set in the madness of the property boom by benchmarking. Tax revenues are back to 2003 levels, a 28 per cent drop, so that’s where salaries should be.
It’s time for the Government to do what we elected them to do, but as their own salaries and pensions are linked to Civil Service pay I won’t hold my breath. – Yours, etc,