Public Sector Strife

The difficulty for government in plotting a way out of our national economic crisis is that the Taoiseach and many of his ministers are complicit in its causation. This effectively precludes them from leading the public service to accept reasonable graded and fair pay cuts in the national interest. The sense of betrayal is heightened by the favouritism shown to the very top civil servants and the sight of billions going to Anglo Irish Bank, bankers, bank shareholders and bondholders while low paid government employees sink in a morass of debt.  National inspirational leadership is needed to diffuse this crisis. The passport office is only a symptom. The country needs to vote now on a new government for legitimacy. 

It is easy to become very angry at the arrogance and insensitivity of those working in the passport office. The union leadership leaves a lot to be desired. Imagine if the workers went on strike for real during the day but stayed until 8 at night to clear the backlog of passports. The public would have had huge sympathy and the injustice done to the lowest paid public servants would have been rammed home. Instead ………….

The reason the Reagan solution will not happen is that Cowen could not lead to save his life. The latest Dublin Docklands Development Authority leaks throw up another €500 million question for the Taoiseach. This government is sinking into the Irishtown sands. A vet would put it down.