She does it again. Thank God we don’t have nuclear bombs as part of our armed forces arsenal – every time Brian Cowen goes away the world would be on high alert in case Mary pressed the button.
I have called for Public Sector pay cuts but when they actually happened I wasn’t happy, no I actually worried about how people would cope with less money – I have been there it is tough – and in particular the hardship suffered by the very lowest paid.
I was somewhat surprised to learn that the higher paid public sector workers suffered less after a U turn in mid December. This highlighted how unfair it was on the lower paid.
Now just as they receive their first months reduced pay Lady Foot n Mouth of Donegal rubs salt into the wound.
We have a cabinet reshuffle on the cards, please Brian send her to the backbenches and free us from her. We can call this Irelands Disaster Recovery Plan.
The Irish Independent reports:
Coughlan defends public sector cuts
Irish Independent
Tanaiste Mary Coughlan has denied the Government orchestrated a smear campaign against the public sector as she repeatedly refused to rule out more pay cuts for workers.
Under attack for encouraging a “vulgar campaign of abuse” to soften up public opinion for two salary reductions last year, Ms Coughlan rejected the allegations and insisted the cutbacks were fair.
She also stood over what was branded a sweetheart deal that will see some of the country’s most senior civil servants suffering lesser basic pay cuts than the lowest-paid public workers.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore demanded a reassurance that the lowest paid would not be hit a third time in next year’s Budget.
But Ms Coughlan, standing in for Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the Dail as he co-chaired talks to save Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive, insisted the Government couldn’t make such promises.
“We are not in a position to give such an undertaking and it would certainly be wrong to give such an undertaking in the month of January,” she said.
It was the second day in a row that Ms Coughlan insisted no one could forecast what measures were needed to steady the country’s finances in the year ahead.
Mr Gilmore suggested the persistent refusal to rule out more cuts signalled the Government’s intentions.
The Labour leader said poorer workers were taking a bigger hit than those being paid six or seven times the lowest pay because of a sweetheart deal for assistant secretaries – the third highest paid civil servants.
The salaries of 150 assistant secretaries, paid up to 146,000 euro each a year, were marginally reduced because their cuts were worked out including a bonus scheme that was scrapped last year.
