But if these increases just displace money that would also have gone into the economy anyway through pensions, increased services etc then isn’t your point just a sack of shit.
Except you’re wrong.
Pay was cut temporarily by emergency legislation due to extreme recession and was accepted as such. Now you want to arbitrarily decide that that cut is now permanent.
Stop moving the goalposts.
Great. The tax rates were increased “temporarily” due to extreme recession. I look forward to their immediate return to boom-time levels.
Youre right in that we probably can’t afford it but your argument is still bollox imo. A country and a society is not and shouldn’t be a business or run as one. If it was we should just shoot all the old people as soon as they get sick and start to become liabilities to the state. Equally anyone unable to work would have no place in society be they lazy, ill or disabled. The nazis tried out that society for a while. A government’s task should be to create a fair and just society. Obviously that’s Horseshit though so let’s settle for a half decent society. So they have to balance the books in some way in the name of the people.
Unfortunately what we have in comparison to other oecd countries is a highly unjust society. While wages are nominally high our %spend on essentials such as housing and childcare is far higher than most states. It is damn difficult for any public service couple to get a gaff in half of Dublin. It is impossible for a single person. Our disposable incomes are much lower than other oecd countries because of the above problems and this has huge knock on effects on the rest of our economy in consumer spending.
All this is well known and obvious. The point is that there are options and some refuse to look at any other than ‘there’s no money, fuck you all’. Bank write offs, tax write offs, nama mismanagement, Irish water, privatizations, church write downs, failure to address half the imf recommendations like our insurance and judicial systems. These all played their parts in there being no money. It’s like a drunk coming home after a weekend bender having drank and gambled all the money and telling his kids to fuck off, there’s no money. There’s not but the housekeeping has been horrendous. So yes, there’s not enough money, but it ain’t the faults of these unions.
I’m disgusted at these strikes personally. It’s gonna cost me a fortune. But given the horrendous mismanagement by the state of its finances, if I was a public service employee I’d be saying ‘fuck em all’ and fighting for every last penny.
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I think there’s a large element of truth in all that and money has surely been wasted to get us to where we are. While PS unions aren’t the whole cause of that at all I do think they need to bear some responsibiiity for the current state of the finances. All that is kind of an irrelevance for the here and now though - for once due to EU rules we only have so much to spend.
Surely you agree the list of demands for that money far exceeds the money that is available, whether we like it or not, so therefore it becomes a matter of prioritisation. My point of view is that 25% of that fiscal space is not an insignificant proportion and I find it hard to justify more being allocated to a particular sub-section knowing that it deprives other citizens of the very elements you articulate.
Yes and no. Yes it is where we are at right now. No that our only options are to set a 25 cap on fiscal space spend. Increase the fiscal space. Site tax asap. Effective corporate tax rates. And tell all the unions that no they can’t have everything.
EU law my hole btw. We can ignore it fine in other circumstances like carbon emissions but we love to hide behind it when we want to introduce something unpalatable.
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How hard is it for a public is service couple in London? Probably just as hard. Decentralisation was brought in to help this but the cunts wouldn’t move out of Dublin as the scheme was voluntary. It should have been compulsory and fire the cunts if they wouldn’t go.
Has there been much of a trend of people leaving the public sector in last 18 months I wonder…not talking about guards and teachers but the others employed in various administration and office roles…in dublin at least anyone with any bit of experience would get another job in this market?
Surely they are leaving if more money and better terms available in private sector?
Anecdotally, the attrition rate to recent recruitment has been huge.
It was a nonsense idea in the first place and that comment is laughably stupid.
Winner.
Wrong.
You’re right but so what. It doesn’t make it right. London has a huge housing problem as well. It’s like saying ‘hey sorry you got raped, but at least you weren’t raped and stabbed.’
It’s impossible for a couple on minimum wage to buy a gaff. It’s difficult for a medium to highly paid couple to get a gaff. It’s very difficult for anyone to rent a gaff. Decentralization is not the solution nor was it proposed as a solution for this. It was pure politics and was implemented in as cack-handed a manner as is possible.
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Because you’re a civil servant that should be fucked out to athlone.
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No, but it would have helped if it succeeded, and revitalised shithole towns around the country.
Ah here, he’s not a serial killer.
He’s something worse.
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No it wouldn’t. It was a nonsense policy. You appear to have swallowed McCreevey’s bullshit hook line and sinker.
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Idea was right, implementation was shite as usual. Do you think all civil service departments should be based in Dublin?
All the senior civil servants I assume need to be close to their ministers office which is potential fly in the ointment…would have been massive boon for rural locations if it had worked but mccreevey made it up on the spot Id say