I am a full-time public servant earning 20 something grand annually and I receive these 2 privilege days. The media is doing a great job of putting a spin on it. Whatever the origins were, I know what it means to me personally. I work through Christmas and Easter holidays to provide a front-of-house service to all the other workers and their families who automatically get Christmas and Easter off. I think it’s a bit much to begrudge people who work in similar situations like myself one miserable day off in lieu of this.
I am also sick and tired of the perceived segregation of private and public workers, and the ongoing villification of public servants. We are much stronger if stop bickering and support each other! I want to see an end to the rot as much as anyone, but while the private workers keep baying for the blood of the public ones, those who are actually guilty are enjoying the carte blanche to do what they like, because no one is paying them any heed.

I have requested pancake Tuesday and Lady Ga Gas birthday be national holidays, in line with our pointless holiday policy.

How would people feel about removing bank holidays, ’cause ya know the way the banks brought the country to its knees?? Oh what’s that I hear you say, no?!?!

The kings birthday thing is just spin. Not all civil servants earn even close to what you think. People wouldn’t touch a lower end civil service job 10/15 years ago because of the pay, but yet everyone wants them cut now.

The naming of these entitlements as privilege days, and referencing them to a monarchs birthday and Empire Day, have encouraged people to jump so quickly onto their high moral horse that they have gone clean over the other side.

The fact they have been there so long as part of the annual leave entitlement means they were part of the attraction for every single civil servant in taking the job in the first place.

Why stop there? Why not just tell everybody they cannot have days off any more because of the state we are in. We would be much more productive if everybody worked on Saturdays, only took ten days off a year and just gave up their right to fair pay and fair treatment.

Public service reform is an important issue but using this in isolation as a stick to beat civil servants is just stoking up a mob mentality.

Irrespective of the reason for giving these two additional days, it is morally wrong in the current situation. The country is on it’s knees and this is going to cost €5000000( yes million) to fund. Whatever laws need to be changed to reverse this should be changed immediately

Before we get all Joe Duffy about the Big Bad Public Servants, we should distinguish between Civil Servants and Public Servants, who do not get these holidays. That said, of course it should be abolished. Should have been done years ago. The finding can be interpreted as “We’re afraid to offend the Civil Servants”, and I cannot believe they would be so offended by the abolition of such an anachronism. We weren’t afraid to impose pay cut after pay cut on Public Servants (I’m not one, btw), so why are we afraid to abolish these extra days?

I get both of these privilege days off work and I have no idea exactly why. Still, gift horses and all that…

A complete joke, we are a republic since 1922, so what’s with the Kings birthday and Empire day, I wonder how many of these people will be out welcoming Queen Elizabeth in May??? (I will be, but I don’t get those hols).

Do the people who made the decision het those days themselves ? That might explain

I believe the point the comission was making was that while there would be no fiscal gain to the employer overall and the loss of the two days would cause unecessary unrest and hostility in the workforce. The comission seem, in my opinion, to have overlooked the fact that it is the people, not the government, who are ultimately the employers of the civil service. Therefore the symbolism of allowing the 2 days and the message it sends to the people who are bearing the largest part of the nations economic burden should have been taken into account but was not.

100,000 workers X 2 days X 8 hours = 1.6 million more hours worked per year for the same cost. Is that not called increased productivity? Not here, it’s called “sounds like some people will get upset, let’s do nothing…”

Sure aren’t all public servants getting it far too easy? They petitioned and fought to keep these two day for the past fifty years! It constantly dominates the news-not japan, not libya-just the important stuff like this, right? how can they dare to hold on to these priv. Days in the face of such righteous clamour? But lets get passionate about this right now, as i am sick of constantly hearing about these two days that would surely end the financial crisis inside of a year! Public servants made hay enough when the celtic tiger was roaring through the past decades, earning 500% more than the public sector per working week, and laughing at the world when they got their mortgages at 1980’s prices as opposed to everyone else in rip-off ireland! The past two pay cuts to their income were not nearly enough-but these two days…that’ll learn ‘em some manners!

For the record- I’m not oblivious to disproportionate suffering, but two days will neither break nor mend a sinking ship. The timber is rotten to the hull, and needs either a new vessel entirely, or different type of solution. To get so worked up over these minutae is not only pointless, it turns society against itself-public and civil servants are our friends! They are our family and our guides in everyday life, without whom services and protection would be nigh impossible. We created these posts and jobs out of a need we feel in society, and we pay them probably less than e jobs are worth to do this for us! Does giving them the recognition of these two days hurt so many, when the subtraction would barely register with ANYONE in irish society save them? Perhaps if they had been asked wholly, they may have even donated them in sympathy with national plight. Ok, rant over, and sorry in advance for any offence caused! G’night all!

King George V’s birthday was 3rd June and Empire Day was 24th May. Neither Christmas nor Easter falls on those dates. I think Mr Mackey and Dr Tormey are talking through their hats.

It’s hard to believe that some people actually think than the Irish public service will reform itself, and then get upset when little or nothing happens. Were they born yesterday?

It’s a bloody joke so it is….are they all royal or something?

Let’s assume public and private sector have equal productivity for the moment. Let’s also assume that we are all staring out the window for half the time (I don’t agree with either assumption) then we’re talking 800,000 hours per year, forever. Worth the effort.

All people are equal. But some are more equal than the others.

Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Brilliant, absolutely hilarious……When will the Irish one be on? RTE is it?

They were actually given at Christmas and Easter to allow the culchies an extra day to travel home. But with all the motorways leaving Dublin I’m sure they’re grand now!

Well they are not going to give it up.Did any one here their union rep on the news on two complaining about what they have supposed to have given up.He did not mention that they all got pay rises on their service years for the last number of years while everyone else have had to take a reduction in pay.Its the system that wrong ,but as normal they will take what they are entitled to.So much for a new minister for that department.We have spoken at the election for a change.Now lets demand change for once and for all and get these civil servants in to line.Remember we pay their WAGES.

Privilege days – Why should they get more time / holiday off than anyone else (Please don’t tell me where they originated from again as if that makes it okay!) Once again some people are just too good to be equal to the rest of us.