Madam, – Sarah Carey is, again, spot-on in her analysis, (April 1st). I believe most people can and will “take the pain” in the upcoming budget. People will stand up and be counted and are aware that there are others far worse off than themselves.
But what people find intolerable is the idea that those who are largely responsible for the mess we are in will walk away unscathed. The same people are still being paid ludicrous salaries,pensions and bonuses.
To my thinking, anybody paid a figure of €100,000-plus should, at the very least, be curing cancer. In another country, in another century, heads would roll. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT SWEENEY,
Viking Harbour,
Ushers Island,
Dublin 8
What would make that possible? A vital element in such a credible framework would be clear solidarity and partnership uniting the social partners. Internecine fighting among those groups damages our prospects and our reputation.
However, such solidarity is difficult to achieve where there is great inequality. On one hand, a retiring bank CEO bemoans the fact that his remuneration this year will fall below €2 million, the CEO of Ibec tells us that he is taking a 6 per cent pay cut, while elsewhere executive pensions and “handshakes” touch obscene levels. On the other hand, there has been talk of reducing the statutory minimum wage and levels of social welfare, many thousands lose their jobs, and cystic fibrosis patients face deferment of essential facilities.
Not much solidarity evident here, particularly when “the great and the good” are the ones in the position of power. The question of what the great and the good may claim to “earn”, or “deserve”, or be legally entitled to receive, becomes a serious distraction. We have a much more important goal to achieve.
But what if the various social partners could agree to relate all remuneration to the average industrial wage, and if those on top remuneration would agree that in no case would remuneration exceed 10 times, or even five times, the average industrial wage for the next three years?
This would send a clear signal to our own country that those already well cushioned from the crunch truly are willing to share the pain in some credible way.
It would also send a clear signal to Standard & Poor’s and to the rest of the world that we are seriously committed to working together for a solution by salving the resentment and frustration to which gross inequity gives rise. The “mini-budget” would still be painful, but it would have a much more hopeful context. – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Blackthorn Court,
Sandyford,
Dublin 16
In particular, my special thanks to that other titanic triumvirate, Messrs McCreevy, Cowen, and the incomparable Patrick B Ahern. Their shared vision of a great Celtic concrete paradise funded on cheap money borrowed from abroad has sadly not materialised.
While hardly as romantic an aspiration as those of past national heroes such as de Valera, Pearse or Connolly, their apparent passion for shoebox cellblocks, jumbo mortgages, Mercs and perks was nonetheless embraced by their followers with equal fervour. And this dig-out of all dig-outs will be borne stoically by PAYE-triots such as myself for generations because they have told us it is our duty to do so to save the country. This is our national “Call to Alms”.
Once again gentlemen, thank you – I will be forever in your debt (quite literally as it turns out).
Roll on April 7th. All together now: “Sinne Fianna Féil . . .” – Is mise,
GARY CONNOLLY,
Sorrel Heath,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15
Madam, – Vincent Browne’s recent Opinion pieces have been excellent. He has been absolutely on the money (no pun intended) in his analysis of how unbalanced and inequitable the sharing and distribution of this country’s wealth has been. His vision of how to extricate us from the mess we’re currently in is equally lucid, realistic and above all fair and equitable.
His argument however, as I see it anyway, has one gigantic flaw: it runs fundamentally contrary to the ethos of this Government. Fianna Fáil isn’t and never has been interested in fairness, equity or transparency. Examples of why this is so are many; they are well known to Irish Times readers and scarcely require repeating.
Fianna Fáil’s policies, especially those governing economic policy since about 2001, as Browne correctly points out, have brought us to where we are today and the party hasn’t shown the least inclination to learn from this if its response to this terrible recession is anything to go by.
Fianna Fáil shows no willingness to cut politicians’ wages, no willingness to slash junior Ministerships, no willingness to abolish, or drastically reduce the size of the Seanad, no willingness to bring the salary of their “leader” (currently ahead of the German chancellor, French president, British prime minister and the US president) into proportion, and every intention to continue to accommodate the better heeled in our society at the expense of the less well off and vulnerable. In short: roll on the status quo.
They won’t alter this tack either, because it hasn’t been made sufficiently uncomfortable for them to do so. Neither will it be unless, the “social outrage” Browne mentions kicks in after the budget, their Green partners and backbenchers get jittery and this wretched Government falls.
However, if the pusillanimity of most of the populace since this downturn unfolded last year, and the lack of collective French-style outrage in evidence, is anything to go by, I won’t hold my breath. – Yours, etc,
DAITHÍ O’MAOLBHARAIGH,
Kenilworth Park,
Dublin 6W.
Madam, – As a true PAYE-triot of this nation, I would like in advance of the budget to express my profound gratitude to that great republican trinity of builders, bankers and bounders who in their infinite wisdom have provided me this opportunity (for the umpteenth time) to stand up and be counted, and to sacrifice my health, my children’s education, and my hopes and aspirations for the further glory of Ireland. A chara, – If Standard & Poor’s is so powerful a watchdog (April 1st) as to cost this country €1 billion by issuing a statement reducing our credit rating from AAA to AA+, the question comes to mind: quis custodiet custodies? Who monitors the performance of S&P? However, its point that we need a “credible framework” if we are to tackle the crunch facing us seems obvious enough.