What are the chances of that happening, A better chance of a turkey volunteering on christmas day!

Agree 100% frontline staff cannot be touched if anything some the cuts they already have had should be reversed,it’s the management and the rest that need to sorted out,people getting paid to have lunch at a desk is crazy that’s just one of many perks that need to be cut never mind talked about …cannot see the awl unions playing ball thou,sure they the biggest winners on croke park along with that moron from the labour relations court,

Have you ever seen Varadkar’s black Mercedes? I parked next to it once. Must be worth a couple of special needs assistants salaries for a year…at least…

Lovely car mind you.

@ Gaye: According to a story on this site published earlier this year, he has a Skoda?

You sound very much like an overpaid Public Servant earning fifty per cent more than your equivalent in the Private Sector plus a guaranteed job and unequalled pension!………..we will ignore the latter two because we need the cash …so a thirt per cent reduction for you and no guff! ……..next please.

CSEC that was for you!

@Mick I am a private sector worker. The thing is I have seen the work nurses and junior Doctors do in A&E, guards on the streets of the two main cities of Ireland and I do not believe the should be attacked by the press and ministers for protecting the pay they get.
Ministers and TDs are overpaid and underworked. The top civil servants who work in ivory tower offices are the ones who need their wings clipped.

I attend a local hospital quite a lot, last week I was talking about the Croke Park Agreement to one of the nurses while she was treating me. She said all the stuff they read about allowences for eating sandwiches at desks and for holding keys don’t do anyone any favours and shouldn’t be there in the first place. I had to ask if she got any of these but was told every frontline nurse grabs a break when and where they can and routinely carries keys, it goes with the job but they don’t get paid any extra for it.
They’re worried that it will be the frontline staff who get hit in any renegotiation as it’s always the ones at the front who get hit first, never the managers. While I was there she pointed out three different managers who retired at the beginning of the year – only to return as nursing administrators, walking around carrying clipboards.

Average public sector pay in the UK is €26k In Ireland it is €48k. Nearly double in ireland. Average public sector pay in France is €35k. France is among the OECD countries with the highest tax and social security burden on labour income.

Why would that happen if the Irish civil service is paid away over other countries pay rates? Can people not budget if they are not back in line with the real world?

Nope. They couldn’t adjust to normal wages because they stretched themselves so much they need to sustain these levels of pay (and sometimes borrowed based on future increments). While not all have second homes and expensive car loans, the ones that did will fight tooth and nail in the courts to support this lifestyle, at your expense.

@Des, you made your point very well. In case nobody else says it, thank you, to you and all the other frontline Public Sector workers like you. I’ve met many of your colleagues who continue to keep my rusty appendage’s this side of the sod, I’m proud to know them, and grateful for their expertise.

You Should have gone for the second had ones…there are simple answers out there lads…

In the uk they pay water rates every year for the last 20 years, £600 up a year, the NHS is paid from our high national insurance, what we pay is alot higher than irelands prsi. My council tax in the UK is over £1700 a year. Not all schools in the UK give free books. So comparing avereage wage to the rest of europe tells us alot…

I agree, the headline is very misleading. But sure it’ll get the rabble excited I suppose which is probably the aim of the Journal. As he is talking about a future agreement, perhaps it should read:

“Croke Park *successor* talks needed in ‘six to eight months if not sooner’ – Varadkar”

Either way my friend…why should the Irish civil service get paid more than other countries civil service staff? Explain please? By paying civil service staff more than the going rate(based on other countries) it means that it is crippling the country at this present time…

Not true Mark, average private sector pay in the UK is €24k, €2k less than the public sector. The cost of living in the UK is high, and even more expensive in London. You don’t get alot for €5 here, it wont even get you a single ticket on the tube cash fare.

Read the article again. He’s talking about a “successor” agreement to the Croke Park agreement.

Not really, people learn to adapt…if they have over stretched themselves then get rid of excess…house, cars etc can be toned down…don’t see why the tax payer needs to subsidise people that won’t budget for themselves

‘lower income’ is now €48k….

The ECB/ IMF want a minimum 20% cut to bring it more in line with Europe. Ireland will still be amongst the top earners.

Your numbers are a bit off there Philip, 6% of 17Billion is about a Billion.

And whatever money is saved on middle or lower paid civil servants salaries is money taken out of the economy,so the negative is subject to a multiplier effect. Nurses and guards and teachers are now not spending in the economy as they no longer have the disposable income to do so. Doesn’t Varadkar get that? It’s the economy stupid!

Colm, that’s a weak argument-actually its a stupid argument..u have to pay the guys a multiple of what u term is the negative effect…hence there is a saving if you bring them back to what other countries pay…I hope ur not working in the dept of finance…

Colm, why not go one step further give everybody in the public sector a pay rise, that will inject much needed money into the economy. In fact it wouldn’t, what would happen is that any disposable income would be saved, which might be great news for the banks but no good for retail. What you are advocating is in effect non pubic sector taxpayers paying what would be a form of social welfare. The country needs to make 3.5 Billion of cuts and new taxes next year probably at a 2:1 ratio, so that means 2.25 Billion or 14% cut in public sector pay.

Not enough…plenty more to take out to get then down to what the country can afford

Yeah you private sector whingers looked down at guys like me (I’m a nurse), working in a job where I wasnt getting bonuses and could never hope to drive a flash car or huge house. Now the arse has fallen out of your world all you can do is complain about public service wages. You took the good times and now begrudge everbody else who does something meaningful and makes differences in peoples lives. Boo Hooo You cant have it both ways
Im looking at you Mick – (and by the way, it wasnt the nurses, firefighters, garda who ruined the country – you dont seem to understand that despite what you say)

These bastards haven’t got the balls for a fight! Croke park is crippling this country, yet we have a government that would rather take money from the defenceless poor than stand up to crooked union leaders. They should be ashamed of themselves. As much as I disagree with most of what Lucinda Creighton says, it sounds like she’s the only member of this crowd of weaklings that has the backbone for a real fight!

Err Lucinda Creighton’s own party have their rules regarding salary caps which they routinely break with their cronies whenever it suits them, not a word said. She’s also a Public Servant but on a much higher wage than your average garda, nurse or firefighter, if she really wanted to lead by example she’d only draw a wage similar to their’s. Who has the backbone there?

Well said

30% better off? Could you please explain how you calculated that?

CSO Report dated August 30th. Avg private sector earnings of 600 pw. Avg PS earnings 900 pw and is actually growing. Increments are being paid while private sector earnings continue to decline. 26,000 job losses in PS minuscule in comparison to private sector. As economic conditions continue to worsen, private sector pay reduces further, companies shut down. You in the public sector are not impacted at all. Equality, right? And in the meantime, social welfare gets cut further hurting the most vulnerable…

@O’Rielly It’s not that I doubt your figures but could you cite your sources please? We’ve often heard people saying that PS workers are X amount better off that their private sector counterparts, but where are there private sector gardai, firefighters etc?

I mentioned above that I was a patient in a hospital last week and talking to a nurse whom I have got to know quite well, she told me once what she earned per week and it wasn’t even the average private sector wage of €600, never mind the average PS wage of €900 you quoted. I can’t prove this, but then neither can you.You’ll just have to take my word for it or go ask a nurse what their flat week wage is.

Rusty, as I said at the start figures are from the Central Statistics Office report published on the 30th of August – Google it… as for fire fighters, Gardai you are correct in that there are no comparable private roles…

Rusty, Check out page 9

http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/earnings/2012/earnlabcosts_q22012.pdf

Thanks Pierce. Very informative.Must learn how to post a link…

pay back for what? taking badly paid jobs during the boom? . cause I did now I’m the enemy of the Irish public for last few years .

Average public sector pay in the UK is €26k In Ireland it is €48k. more than double in ireland. Average public sector pay in France is €35k. France is among the OECD countries with the highest tax and social security burden on labour income.

Are you joking?? The unions will threaten all manner of sh1te and we’ll be back to the same old deal.

I get the feeling Leo’s in for a bit of a bolloc-king in the morning when he meets Enda.

“payback”?

Ridiculous. Most of the public servants I would know are on less than 30k and have seen their wages reduced by just under 100eur after taxes and levies since this whole debacle began. Hardly swimming in it, and struggling to get the job done with half te staff. Never been more demotivated and exhausted!