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THE WORLD’S TEN wealthiest men doubled their fortunes during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic as poverty and inequality soared, a report has said today, ahead of the opening of the World Economic Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda.
Oxfam said the men’s wealth jumped from $700 billion (€612 billion) to $1.5 trillion (€1.3 trillion), at an average rate of $1.3 billion (€1.1 billion) per day, in a briefing published before a virtual mini-summit of world leaders being held under the auspices of the World Economic Forum.
A confederation of charities that focus on alleviating global poverty, Oxfam said the billionaires’ wealth rose more during the pandemic more than it did the previous 14 years, when the world economy was suffering the worst recession since the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
It called this inequality “economic violence” and said inequality is contributing to the death of 21,000 people every day due to a lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger and climate change.
The pandemic has plunged 160 million people into poverty, the charity added, with non-white ethnic minorities and women bearing the brunt of the impact as inequality soared.
According to Oxfam Ireland, developing countries have been denied access to sufficient vaccines because of rich governments’ protection of pharmaceutical corporations’ monopolies. This has forced them to slash social spending as their debt levels spiral and now face the prospect of austerity measures.
It said the proportion of people with Covid-19 who die from the virus in developing countries is roughly double that in wealthy countries.
The report follows a December 2021 study by the group which found that the share of global wealth of the world’s richest people soared at a record pace during the pandemic.
Irish billionaires
The report also found that the wealth of Ireland’s nine billionaires has increased by €18.3 billion (58%) to €49.7 billion since the start of the pandemic.
Oxfam Ireland has called for extreme wealth in Ireland and around the world to be subject to a wealth tax to help fund the recovery from the pandemic.
The group’s estimates show that a 1.5% wealth tax on Irish millionaires owning above €4 million could raise €4 billion in tax revenue. A 1.5% wealth tax on Irish billionaires alone could raise a little over €0.7 billion.
Commenting on the report, Oxfam Ireland CEO Jim Clarken said: “Central banks pumped trillions of euros into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom.”
“Now is the time to redress that imbalance through progressive wealth taxes, along with other progressive measures such as debt relief and cancellation. Within the EU, the Irish Government could lead by example by introducing a wealth tax of 1.5% on the very wealthiest which would have a positive effect on Ireland’s society as it recovers from the pandemic,” he said.
He added that it is right that we should ask those that have gained most from the pandemic to contribute to the recovery.
The funds generated by a wealth tax could have a transformative effect on funding Ireland’s recovery from the pandemic and could be targeted at those areas most in need – homeless people and people trapped in the increasing poverty trap of private rental accommodation, especially lone parents. It could be used to modernise our struggling health system and fund a just transition to a zero-carbon society.
It would also enable Ireland to meet our long-standing commitment to spend 0.7% of our gross national income on overseas development assistance.
Oxfam said tax reforms could be used to fund worldwide vaccine production as well as healthcare, climate adaptation and gender-based violence reduction to help save lives.
The group said it based its wealth calculations on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available, and used the 2021 Billionaires List compiled by the US business magazine Forbes.
Forbes currently lists the world’s richest man as Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, who’s net worth stands at $268.1 billion (€234.5 billion), followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at $188 billion (€164.4 billion).
Third on the list are Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who’s wealth is put at $186.5 billion (€163.1 billion), followed by Bill Gates at $134.5 billion (€117.7).
The other names on the list are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, US investor Warren Buffet and the head of the French luxury group LVMH, Bernard Arnault.
With reporting from © AFP 2022.
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They might have some chance if they took a chunk off their own salaries and expenses first…hard to go into these negotiations asking frontline staff to take more cuts while TDs are on 93k per annum basic plus 50k expenses in some cases…
Please, I’m trying to have a relaxing Saturday. Aaaaaaasssrrrrggggghh
fact not to mention that the country wrecking spivs are on bloated pensions.
the main problem facing Labour/Unions after their sell out is that there are now 500,000 unemployed Trotskites who will not support claims for better wages, but that’s Trots for ya! always thinking only of themselves.
Cillian… Great point… This something that I’ve stated over the past couple of years. What originally brought it to my mind, was while speaking to German friends… They couldn’t understand how our Irish delegates could ask to renegotiate our debt to the EU without the delegates taking a cut in their own salaries.
It basically the Charles Haughey Mentality…. The public must tighten their belts, because we have financial issues… But I must go on living like a king. I owe it to my people… Buy the way… Here is the payment in full for my new helicopter.
What better wages? I work 24/7 shifts in the disability sector I do sleepovers for 40 euro (you don’t sleep by the way) away from my family on average 7 nights a month. Doing the maths as they are now with tax, pay cuts social charge I work on a 12 hr shift for 90euro a day. Do the maths on that. My job is vet difficult and can be dangerous with behaviour issues of clients.
We’re not looking for better wages, we’re looking to keep the wages we have.
Thanks TheJournal for rubbing me up the wrong way today – My only day off this week.
John… I hope you can find time to relax this weekend. However, I see the problem as systemic. .. Before our government attack the wages of middle management and line employees. .. Systems should be put in place so that all finances are accountable, monitored and addressed on an ongoing basis. Then reasonable limits put in place for all employees.
This in itself would create loads of savings. Once this has been done across the board. We tben look at pensions, golden parachutes and contractual employment agreements. Legislate binding processes that are also monitored.
Again savings….
Then all government ministers and high ranking officials salaries and benefits would be assessed by an independent non-irish organization. The results would be published for all to see with and understanding of the recommendations would used.
After all the above is completed… Then we look at the taxation of the average person.
We have to move our goverment from a bottom-up approach to a top-down approach in all things involving finances, taxation and laws.
Doc …you can’t blame labour/unions for aspiring to aspire to the individualism and selfishness of their Fine Gael brethren …isn’t that what the great Neoliberal/Neoconservative mantra is all about …..greed is good ….its dog eat dog ….at least Thatcher was more honest about what she was doing ….I’m not sure Kenny et al have the intellectual capacity to really understand what they are trying to achieve, they certainly don’t have the honesty to tell the public
Me too John . We are always working over contracted hours to ensure our clients with disabilities get the care they deserve. Now they want to cut our premium rate for working Sundays and Christmas. Demoralised and depressed.
Share out your hours with someone else James. Greed is a terrible trait.
Rodrigo, you’re saying that to someone who works in an agency who fails to pay overtime to all it staff and fails to hire new staff.
Take your grievances to them, I can’t be bothered.
Which are disproportionate to current market conditions.
If it is fair and balanced then a deal is possible. The problem is that 24/7 can’t take more cuts than the 9/5. In all honesty public servants have contributed their share to getting the country back in some form of order. As I keep saying start at the high rollers and move down. Can’t take much more cuts or media bashing.
Fighting among ourselves while bankers, crooked politicians and fat cats swan of into the horizon on huge bailouts and massive pensions. What is wrong with Ireland?
John that is something I have been trying to figure out for so long, why is there such a divide between Irish people. I have come to a small part of the problem and my solution is #boycottIrishmedia .
Nice one Julie. So putting Irish media jobs at risk and, presumably, boosting British media by default, is your solution? Brilliant!
Paddy I don’t want anyone to not keep their jobs. But I am sick and a lot of people are of media stupid propaganda and bias journalism. People can see it. I wouldn’t waste my money buying a paper I know is totally bias and is not going to report everything. As I said before investigative journalism is dead with democracy. It is from the top down that this media propaganda is coming. To be honest one person having so much control over Irish media is a sham and I won’t buy them papers.
Genuinely, Paddy, you need help
The expectations of our fat overpaid useless unions are as out of whack as the expectations of our fat overpaid useless government.
nail on the head snooch
Haha! As if this government could even spell the word “successful”, just look at the so-called deal they did on the promissory notes. FFS, They didn’t even try to get a write down. All they’re good at doing is targeting new public service recruits. They haven’t the stomach for a real fight.
We need to Protest in huge numbers!! Sitting back with that attitude won’t achieve jack sh!t. We can then say we tried, and the government will be reluctant to introduce more taxes and increases! We have ways of protesting without even lifting a finger – what is the main tool the government use to dictate to us? TV and radio. Collectively stop viewing/listening to any Irish channel for a day or for a prime time period 6-10pm, and threaten that this will be repeated if necessary, damaging their spin machine.
Street protests don’t work; they’re ignored. However, protests advised by Gene Sharp (http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/your-democracy/2013/01/gene-sharp-machiavelli-non-violence) include mass actions where huge numbers of people remove their money from banks for a day, for instance – these could have an effect, because they’re less easy to ignore.
Even a letter to your bank stating your intention to withdraw every cent as a matter of protest.
@sinabhfuil if we are going to do it, it will have to be more than a day. Direct debits money should be put in a day before the payment is due. That is indeed if you have not gone to next level of boycotting phone companies and energy suppliers. You would need everyone in the community except the elderly to do this for impact.
@Noreen A day works fine, if lots of people withdraw their money at the same time. Say 50,000 people take their money out of their bank on Friday the 25th, and put it back on Monday the 27th, it’s not going to leave their direct debits unpaid (and them subject to fines), but it is going to have a fairly stunning effect on the banks’ balances. Since the banks use our money for trading in stocks and bonds, this would have an impact.
Cant believe that so many people are fooled into thinking that the senior union reps at the ‘negotiating’ table, are actually going to rock the governments boat and their own cushy numbers by not agreeing to this new ‘deal’. Since when did Jack O’C , David Begg et al actually represent the majority of their union members??????????????? Theyve continually sold out ordinary workers and union members in order to protect their own cushy numbers and state board positions and also protected the high paid civil servants.
Ive been advocating for 5 years that union members should stop their subscriptions until change happens at the top
SAB, Maybe a date for withdrawal could be arranged?
A farce to begin with . Targeting people who work 24/7 while leaving 9-5 people (like government negotiators ) untouched . The hypocrisy of this government knows no bounds .
I don’t believe that is a fair comment Jerry. 24/7 workers are not the only ones facing pay cuts. In education for example they are looking to cut €350 million – that works out at approx €6000 per teacher.
So where will the money come from? Please explain.
I would start at the top and work down
Then let’s do that so then. Anything but new taxes. Just spending cuts.
I just think it’s so wrong to take any more from gardaí, nurses and others who work so hard to better the lives of our public.
It should be noted there are two public services-those we cannot do without and those that sit at a desk all day and complain that they’ve used all their flexi hours.
The reductions in pay just keep coming.
That’s the problem.
Another €40 a month gone with the bee PRSI rates since the last budget.
My gross pay has increased since 2007 but my net pay hasn’t.
The deductions side of the payslip is so long. PAYE, USC, PRSI, Pension levy, pension, S&C Pension – list goes on.
How is that a people in a job 5-10 years who didn’t get a mortgage, didn’t buy fancy cars & didn’t become aspiring property moguls are suffering disproportionately to the perpetrators of our economic meltdown?
I’ve already lost about 25% NET pay since 2008.
This can’t go on or we’ll all be on bread & water and saying “please sir, can I have some more?”
The Garda unions are showing the way, as are the nursing unions, We need the teachers unions & all others to row in TOGETHER and stand up to the likes of Shatter, Reilly & that hypocrite Rory Quinn.
Well, the alternative is layoffs. Fianna Fail would probably do this, considering Labor is pro-Unions.
Reg , so you think cutting shift pay is the answer, I don’t, if the jobs aren’t needed what’s the issue you have with letting people go,
The cuts at present are aimed at jobs needed for society to function, their not across the board, their at those working shift, think about that for a minute before you reply
Id say bring on the layoffs for a lot of low paid workers with kids. Nice redundancy payment, sit on the bungholio and pick up all the free money, bring it on.
yes the government should be downsized because why should “we the people” be the soaked with property taxes and water charges? I don’t think our founding fathers ever intended for the government to be as powerful as it is today.
Reg, government powerful???, the bankers and Europe might be powerful, our government are the arse lickers of Europe , good only for protecting themselves, and their cronies
Good idea. More people on social welfare.
Cut social welfare too. Problem solved.
John , if the jobs aren’t needed, didn’t say they weren’t needed,
All spending should be cut (entitlements, wages, grants, subsidies… )
THEN, let’s abolish property tax and water charges.
and if need be, we can then introduce a wealth tax, close tax breaks, etc.
A low-tax low-spend economy eliminates the need for “broadening” the tax base.
Reginald, our “founding fathers” created the elitist system that we have now. Don’t forget, while Irish people lived in abject poverty in the 1800s and 1900s the political class were living it up! Lemass, devalera et al are to blame for the mess we are in today. I hope they all rot in hell!
I work 24 hour shifts including Christmas easter etc.take away my pay for that then forget it. I feel members of the 24/7 alliance should give a date and down tools. no emergency cover in the hospitals jails and fire services etc which by the way goes against every fibre in our bodies but we are sick to death be grouped into the public sector workers who sit on there arse 9-5 and do shag all.
Ridiculous generalization
First divide public and private, then divide public, the governments strategy is working, all of us public and private will be taking 10-20% pay cuts, because of the ‘look out for myself’ attitute. Sheep.
I’m afraid for the country to become successful again public sector pay needs to be addressed along with their pensions and allowances.
But may I add politicians and senior civil servants need to take major reductions as we are not anywhere near our European counterparts when it comes to pay and benefits. This will not be popular but sometimes the truth hurts.
Also the so called deal we got last week needs to be challenged if possible.
Basically Ireland needs a whole new cost base and dare I say it Accountability…….
Benchmark all public servant salaries against the EU average (minus Ireland).
It’s hard to justify taking money off people who are working to earn it, to spend it back in the economy on food for their children, when you are giving money away like flyers in the street for nothing to businessmen in Europe who drive 7 series BMWs. W€&kers. Having said that high paid civil servants should not be protected on the same scale as someone on less than the average industrial wage.
Spending cuts would compensate the need for a property tax / water charges.
I admit it’s tough but look to the bigger picture: no home tax, no water tax.
What a fool you are, cut pay and the rates will go away. Get a grip
Aw look at us all fighting for the scraps, arn’t we Irish just so dam cute! Who cares that the government are getting fat with their fancy hotel meals and lavish perks as long as we small folk can fight over the crust thrown at us from the table we is just so happy. What a dumb nation we are, they have us right were they want us!
Here here
Public sector pay cuts were inevitable.
You’re not adding anything to the conversation pasting this tripe in everywhere Regonald. Why don’t you go for a walk or something and see if you can come up with something a little more inspiring?
Reg there were and they were given , with no disruption, which has given a false impression of how passive we are
It’s hard to succeed when one side, i.e. the government don’t want to succeed. Croke Park 2 is a farce. The only agenda is cuts under the guise of reform and an attempt to dictate under the guise of consensus. Fine Gael have made it clear that they don’t like the Croke Park Agreement so they want to tear it up and impose worse cuts than the last government. Labour are merely the tool by which this happens. It’s already clear that we’re entering the blame game phase over its inevitable failure.
We’ve had years of benchmarking, followed by Croke Park 1 when we were promised fundamental structural reforms and productivity improvements. Instead, the public spending bill has increased until just recently and many departments still don’t use basic tools like email, computer systems etc. The payroll systems are antiquated and again bloated due to all the ridiculous allowances and weird calculations that have to be done because of all the varying special conditions depending on when people were hired and other special exceptions that small interest groups have negotiated (e.g. walking to the carpark allowance). We’ve been waiting for the reforms for long enough.
Increased productivity has happened since n certain sectors but not all. In education, teachers teach bigger classes due to 3,000 job losses, undertake an extra period of supervision per week, work an average of an extra hour a week, co-operate with extra inspections, fill in posts of responsibility voluntarily where these posts cannot be filled due to the moratorium on promotions, hold all parent-teacher meetings outside of school hours. This is extra to the work that is being done already. I know nurses and Gardai have engaged in reform whereas certain areas of administration and management in the civil service have not. Reform has happened and savings have been made but not by all. There is no talk about civil servants or admin staff in HSE engaging in reform or graduate programmes. The government are targeting front line staff. This tells you all you need to know about the government’s agenda.
Hopefully talks will break down so we won’t have the shafting of majority of Irish people yhat was Croke Park 1. What’s the point in talking about €170 million cuts when we have a €15 billon deficit!
Croke Park only said no MORE cuts. There was 17% on average before that. We’ve all been shafted, public and private alike.
It seem,s to be against the law to reduce politician,s pay ,every politician should be given € 500000 a year and every time they make a mistake deduct €100000 from them ,that,s the way business run,s you make a mistake you loose (See what they are left with at the end of the year )
LOL it might just work.
While I agree that politicians expenses need to be cut, it distracts from the BILLIONS required to keep the overall public sector payroll afloat. It wouldn’t make a drop in the ocean by comparison.
Hi Reginald, you’re best bet to achieve your ideal, would be to stop supporting a party like FF, FFG, or labour …that are all about preserving their own to off wages. It its your choice, either preserve the status quo, our vote against the establishment.. It really is your choice. Don’t try and defend your choice after the fact.
@reg it may not make a huge difference in the budget deficit if the government were to take a decent sized hit (20k-30k each p.a.), but it shows leadership and solidarity with the everyday worker, the way they act at the moment is just highlighting massive inequalities and double standards
Workers been robbed to pay bankers, will the turkey vote for Christmas ?.
haha Government and Successful shouldent even be in the same sentence !!!!!!!
We need to get our resources back.We have the richest island on the planet.directdemocracy.ie. We need help to get back our resources.Then,we will need no more cuts,or protests,or talks.
The government cannot credibly claim theres a necessity to further cripple the earnings of a quarter of a million people who earn less than the average industrial wage and have taken on average a 15% pay cut already in order to save a bilion over 3 years, and on the other hand pay unguaranteed bondholders billions from our bust banks at the drop of a hat.
A third rate of tax on high earners would bring in the same money over 3 years and not one of them would be sent to the poorhouse as a result. Austerity is just for the ordinary worker, whether they are public OR private sector.
Depends on what your idea of success is.
Fg called the promissory note a success so yeh, no matter what happens it will be a ”success”
Always watching…
Adebayo
Never understood why people are to be paid Double time on Sundays or even more on a Bank Holiday. Also nightshift pay. This extra pay should be scrapped. If your job needs you to work these hours then so be it. Want a 9-5, go find one. Over time fair enough. People should be rewarded with extra work in the week.
Would you be calling for that in retail, hospitality, where the majority of workers rely on those exact payment?
Also, not all of us gets those payments (even when we should be), it depends upon the job.
Because when I did shift in Private multinational factorys I got a 30% shift allowance. It’s the norm. Have a look at most social things in life, gigs, get togethers etc. mostly at weekends and built around 9-5. Also nights can be bad for your health.
Hospitality- are you taking the p.ss there. The vast majority of hospitality do not receive this extra pay for the work and hours they put in. They get paid their weekly wage and thats it.
I only work night duty, and work 3 weekends a month and you say I shouldn’t get paid more……who else is going to do this work, certainly not You
Begruge, ah , what happen to you???, how you grow up with no empathy for people working throughout the night while others sleep, it’s a sad day
I have a suggestion for the impoverishing government of Fine Gael/Labour. Each government minister and junior minister shadow a frontline office holder for a month while existing on their proposed new pay scales. No other income or Garda drivers etc. They have to take the bus etc. I wonder how fast they would want to cut the incomes of people who rush into burning buildings, face thugs with machine pistols with if they are lucky a clapped out , ten times rammed Garda vehicle and a stick, or clean up the emergency department of a hospital after the drunken mess of a road accident.
The answer is simple they would not work for those wages.
We bailed out European banks who went on a reckless lending campaign without due diligence. It is time we put an amendment into the Irish constitution to never again bail out privately owned banks etc unless the citizenry of the country gets back in profits what it costs with all the attendant costs adjusted for inflation.
change for the better is possible only when this excuse for a gov, is removed
The only thing the government have in common with successful is the number of letters in both words.
I go to work monday to friday and work hard for my money as a Civil Servant.
My wages pay for the roof over my head and for my family to have a decent home.
I don’t have a car, I can’t afford one. I don’t take my family on holidays because I can’t afford that either.
I have enough to keep my head above water. Just.
I have taken a 20% pay cut and now work harder for what I do have.
If my money is hit again, I think I would actually be better signing on and let the state pay for me.
I will most certainly not be motivated to work even harder for less again.
I am more than willing to make my contribution but I am not prepared to put a chain around my neck and make a slave out of myself while fat arsed politicians lead the high-life and pat each other on the back because they are keeping their bloated pensions.
Toby , I work 24/7 and I don’t think it’s right to attack my pay grade only, I too have taken the cuts you have,
We have payed our way , both of us
Shay. Agreed.
Shay and Toby I agree with both of you, I’m a lower paid PS, just like most of my colleagues, we have taken several significant cuts in recent years. As things stand I can barely afford to pay my mortgage and heating my house is only just possible sometimes, I dread anything major happening like having to get a new fridge or washing machine. I simply don’t have the money. Like Toby I don’t drink, smoke or have a car and in 25 years we have never have a foreign holiday. During the so called “Celtic Tiger years” the wages of myself and my colleagues never seemed to come close to that of those in the Private Sector, we could only stand by and watch as others bought huge houses, often two and a foreign apartment, nice cars every year and foreign holidays too. Now I cannot pay taxes like the proposed water tax and the property tax, all brought in to pay for the excessive borrowing that paid for all those things I never had during the Boom years, but people like me are expected to pay for it now be cause we are still assumed by others to be in a “safe pensionable job”.
The Public Service employs roughly 330,000 people in Ireland, we did not cause this current situation or do anything to exploit it, somehow we’ve been left with the bill.
The infamous “Benchmarking” was introduced to bring our wages somewhat closer to those of others at the time and stop the drain of staff from the PS to the Private Sector, at that time the PS found it difficult to attract staff. This is usually thrown around as if the PS were given some sort of lifetime financial free pass from God. Not so. Anything gained by benchmarking has been lost since then for the vast majority of PS workers who now find themselves in the same situation as everyone else in the country struggling to pay their mortgages and just survive day to day. We’re all up shit creek trying to find a damn paddle. We didn’t expect our government to heap the misery on everyone by charging us for taking every shit and making us pay for our canoes though.
Do you mind me asking What prevented you from seeking employment in the private sector during the boom years?
Did it not make sense to find a higher paid job?
It did Rob, but we do the job because it was important, and still is, and needed badly, but were not going to do it for nothing, 24/7 employees are frontline workers, why would you expect us to accept greater pay cuts than others
“Did it not make sense to find a higher paid job?” It did indeed Rob, initially I thought the “Boom” would never last and would only be short lived, but after a while it seemed to be there to stay so I went back to college at night to be a Systems Engineer, I’m now in a different job in the PS.
Its hard to describe but most people, most frontline workers in the PS, actually like their job. I don’t think its some sort of “calling” but, given the chance, the majority of them would prefer to come in every day and do their job, do a hard days work, and all they ask is to be paid a reasonable wage for it. That’s all most people want at the end of the day.
If you went to college for 4 years and got a degree, its reasonable that your wages reflect this, if you have a postgraduate degree, your wages should reflect this too. If you work beyond your normal working week, we usually call this overtime and its reasonable that you should be paid normal overtime rates. Most people just want to be treated reasonably, they want this for their children. Its not too much to ask. Is it?
Because the unions will give in,and sell its members on” this is the only deal in town”take it or leave it
Ah but the members will have to vote on any deal. So many are disillusioned with their unions, but members will have their say in the end.
Wouldn’t hold my breath. ASTI voted against Croke Park 1 only to be told, in the very Irish tradition by our union leadership, that we voted the wrong way the first time and we had to vote again.
No hope. Most puic sector workers were targeted by banks for loans for houses etc. I saw this week that the average wages in factories in the US is $15,600 per year. That’s about 12k in Ireland. So to make Ireland competitive everybody including landlords etc will need a drastic reduction. This includes welfare. Croke Park Deal won’t reduce wages.
It makes no difference what is on the table for negotiating its what is agreed that will be the end resultt.the unions could look for pay rises for all staff and increased expenses and longer holidays they wont get these demands but neither will the government negotiators get their demands either.it will end up in compromise and all new entrants will start on lower wages no premium pay etc etc just look at the yellow pack contracts reilly has introduced for front line health workers….note it is the middle layer of office based individuals who look after the ordering of curtains or toilet brushes in hospitals that always escape the axe…
Yes of course they will, they themselves wont take the hit but the lower paid civil servants will, this government makes me sick.
Thanks for wrecking my Saturday morning with all of ur moaning and groaning now that I’m reading all of ur moaning I want to add my tuppence worth there’s a lot of workers in the service of others who would be far better off on the dole at this moment , I have said this before if you want to change the style of this government and its pay kick this lot of wasters out of government why at any election less than half of the people who are entitled to vote do?
It’s hard to justify taking money off people who earn it, to spend it back into the economy to feed their children, when you are givin money away like flyers in the street for nothing to businessmen in Europe who drive 7 series BMWs. W€&kers. Having said that highly paid civil servants are protected better than someone who earns less than the average industrial wage.
With the Government TDs (too many of them anyway) and Union bosses on huge salaries and perks, do you really think it will be fair to joe bloggs taxpayer and bondholder bailerouter.
The usual Shinner types posting dross here.
seriously valid point! what an argument! well, you’ve convinced me
What is the usual shinner type, I just see most people commenting here making sense !
anyone that doesn’t agree with taxing the poor and letting the rich off scot-free, who do these peasants think they are? don’t they realise their place?
Patrick explain yourself
Put it this way, we are still waiting on legislation for the x case.
Still waiting on universal health care.
Still waiting on a banking inquiry.
Still waiting on a state apology for the girls forced into the Magdalene laundrys.
Still waiting to put through legislation from Haugheys days as a minister never mind when he was Taoiseach.
Finally, it took nearly two years to get a “deal” (the EU are the only ones who got a deal) on the promissory notes, so apologies for my cynicism but not now and not before the original deal runs out.
I don’t think pay cuts are on the table seen as Gilmore stated the budget would be 1 billion better off on the genius deal Enda engineered.
Continued reform is required boys and girls.. then again, i am a potato. x
Another meaningless poll.
I dont think the Goverment can afford to upset the faithful. These are their front line troops against the people who will/are shortly turning to anarchy to oppose the greed and corruption of the state.
Considering they cant get anything right at the moment, they will probably mess this up as well, they sure are incompetent.
It was very easy to deals when the state ATM was in full swing. Any fool can give away someone else’s money. It’s not so easy to take it back. We will see lots of huffing and puffing about fairness and principles from the unions now and damn all progress on bringing reality to bear on the public wage bill. Expect much throwing of toys from prams.
The cuts to basic pay also reduced our shift pay, it’s based on the basic , give us a break, cut the pay of people doing shifts and leave the rest alone, please give me a break from this nonsense , FG are worse that FF at FF pretended to be fair
And the bloody negotiators on both sides are paid basic, what choice do have other than to withdraw our labour, please show some fairness, it’s getting ridiculous
Define successful.
have your say