It’s about time the people of Ireland see and appreciate the wonderful work done by the Gardai protecting us all on a daily basis, the majority of which goes unnoticed. It is despicable and disgusting that the men and women in government (Shatter and Reilly) use the Gardai and nurses as political footballs and give the work these people PEOPLE!!! do any respect or recognition. I grieve with the family of Detective Sargeant Donohoe and for the fact that this brave man and his family will never get the respect they deserve from a horrible odious man like Shatter

Nail on the head

Good ole Jim “lugs” Brannigan. He helped thousands of kids stay out of trouble and not get involved in gangs.
I know that for a fact because I was one of them.

The right hook on that man is the thing of legend

Gerry,
You are probably to polite to put what you said in capitals – I would like to print your comment in huge capitals and pin it to alan shatters face.
We need to SHOUT about this.
Not only are these leeches calling themselves politicians destroying the services we MUST HAVE NOW they are going to cost the government so so much more with the problems THEY are creating
I applaud you Gerry for your comment but hate the fact that such a commonsense comment has to be made

@jft96
@gerry
Spot on comments lads….. Just one thing….. Re:morale! Shatter is correct! Morale is great among members. Members that he’s spoken to…..if you were a super/chief/commissioner,awaiting your next politically appointed jump to another 6-figure salary,and not having to worry about weekend or night allowance,your morale would be fairly high as well!!!!
BUT, MR SHATTER, we are not high ranking members of An Garda Síochána. Morale is ROCK-BOTTOM. And if you asked just one member of his opinion, he would happily give you the opinion of the whole force! We cannot take any more and we are not alone in that respect!
Austerity is not working….and the party line “this is the legacy left by Fianna Fáil” no longer holds credence!!!
RESIGN NOW

think a case of 5000 with blue flu is what the doctor ordered.

the country has gone mad

Abby, why? He was born in Dublin. He’s Irish.

irish born maybe. his heart lies elsewhere…

Ugly, ugly comment, Abby.

after 9 years, a garda’s take home pay is just over e600 per week, you have to factor in the monthly big cheque! Saying that, morale is rock bottom. Better training, resources and equipment are needed, so is weeding out the incompetent 25ish % of the organisation

I could be wrong on this, but I don’t reckon many people join the Gardai for the money. I would imagine for most guards, their gripe wouldn’t be about wages, more about conditions.. There should be more of them for a start, and they should be backed up by the judiciary when they bring criminals before the courts. If we had a referendum tomorrow on whether or not we should lower the pay of politicians considerably, and in return slightly increase the wages of guards, nurses, teachers, firefighters etc. I’d say it would be 99% in favour..

I’m guessing that all the thumbs down are from the 25%ers

Garda and nurses have to have the worst jobs having to deal with drunks violence dead bodys which must be mentally draining and now they are been treated like they caused the economy crash..gards are not even on good pay as it is.
In a case like this its not just them that suffers its the person who calls for assistance and can’t get a gard because of cut backs.

We. Have. No. Money.

Then they should quit and find a new job. Oh wait. There are none that pay that well.

So you have said, over and over. You seem to be happy enough that all TD’s and Ministers pay themselves whatever they wish. Find anothe mantra troll.

Because. We. Are. Paying. For. Losses. We. Never. Incurred.

We’re like a Paddy Power special….money back for all lost bond holders!!!

@paul- somebody should really point out to politicians on all sides in the Dail that if they took a pay cut we could pay off the national debt, double the wages of our public servants, scrap the household charge, lower income taxes, increase social welfare and put a Monkey into space. If only they knew what everyone here on the Journal knows, eh? By the way- the first sign of someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about is that they presume someone with an alternate outlook is a troll.

@michael- get over it. Ship sailed. Gone over the horizon. Big Fianna Fáil logo on the sails. Can’t miss it.

no vincent. just someone with a fg outlook… drag your knuckles and worn out rhetoric back under your stone..

@david- so anyone with an FG outlook is a troll? You sort of proved my point for me, there.

@ Debbie Ennis

leave them alone ? ?
when…
when they get caught making disgusting rape ”jokes”

@vincent,you actually make fg look terrible with your insulting remarks and constant abuse of others..
I’m yet to see someone agree with you..
You are definitely the journals biggest troll

Simon, get ur facts about that whole incident before u say the rape joke comment.,…

@steve-it’s lucky for FG that I’m not their Marketing Director, so. And the number of people wearing blue shirts on the Government benches in Dáil Éireann would suggest quite a few people agree with me.

@steve- btw- I absolutely don’t abuse others. I defend myself from attacks from others which you don’t notice because you prefer their politics to mine. This thread being a case in point.

@steve- I see you calling a guy a racist below. Thought you were anti-abuse?

@vincent short lived fg are finished,their own are turning daily.
I am beginning to think you are part of the journal team to “spice things up” as the 3strike policy does not apply to you with your degrading abusive manner

@vincent,read the comment where I mentioned racist again and tell me where I call him racist,your English must be bad try a dictionary or wiki

We have enough money to pay TD’s an annual salary of almost €100,000 plus more than that – EACH in expenses (more over the entire course of government). And we have billions upon billions to pay off bad banks).

You think we could scrape together a little to pay the people who are actually putting their lives on the line to protect us? Not to mention the people that help heal us when we’re sick and teach our kids? Just a thought!

@vincent The fail costs nearly €16 million a year in basic salaries for TD’s. double that figure with expenses, cars, staff, building costs.. Etc. cutting their salaries to normal wages would save a considerable amount of cash

@steve “I presume you are racist” is what you said. Fairly definitive. You also spelt “thought” as “taught”- so maybe it’s your own English you should be looking at?

Haha, Freudian slip, I of course meant ‘Dail’… Or did I?

@steve- I leave degrading abuse to your ilk.

Vincent you are obviously a FG lack and also it seems you have some serious grievance against Gardai. Everytime The Journal publishes a thread about anything to do with the Gardai you come out with the same crap. Your reply was nothing short of condescending and stinks of bully boy tactics. It seems to me that you have no idea what happens in the real world. Our leaders are there to lead not to put us down.

@Vincent As a FG supporter i must say you are making not only FG but also anyone who supports them look bad as this negativity you are pushing here wont stay on the journal but will be taken away by readers of your ‘Thoughts and Opinions’ and my result in negativity in that world that exists out the window..

The current government were never going to have it easy, everything was always going to be their fault, they knew this but a change was needed and they stepped up ready to take the heat because what we had needed fixing.. There is no institutional memory in Irish Government, all anyone cares about is who we can blame now, but every last FF’(r?) on this site deep down knows where the blame lies, the majority of these talks and forums didn’t start in last year the.. They were inherited, with a lot of the deals set in stone before anyone in FG could have an opinion on the matter.

As for Shatter, as a FG supporter i think his appointment was a mistake.. no clue is held by him related to his position (or anything) and he is winging it, he is trying to dig his way out of a hole, and in the dreadful week that its been he chooses to enter a war of words with the Gardaí.. – Also to clarify, this is my own personal opinion on this.

@vincent,no its you who abuse people,you must have a sad life every post you put up is disagreed upon by majority,half the people just like taking turns winding you up

For anyone who wants to read Vincents style of discussing by insult and abuse
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-why-is-government-more-damaging-to-labour-than-fine-gael-767244-Jan2013/

Vincent, are you saying that the wages of our politicians is equal to the debt? You are terrible at math!

@robert- how much would you like to cut their wages + benefits by?

@paul- I’ve nothing whatsoever against the Gardai. My point above is simply that the starting point in any employer -employee wage negotiation is what can the employer afford. Everything else is secondary. In this case, the employer is bankrupt. In the private sector that would entail huge job losses. In the public sector it means pay cuts. It’s not a question of right or wrong. It’s where we are. As for condescending- I give back what I get. No more, no less.

@padraig- In fairness, Shatter didn’t pick this week to start anything with the Gardai. The AGSI walked out of talks and he responded. And he did so on Friday, before the events in Louth on Friday night. The timing was lousy- but it wasn’t a conscious thing. As for the rest of your comments, have a read of the thread and reassess where the negativity started…

@declan- the debt+ putting a monkey into space= TD wages.

@Vincent Let them make as much as they expect other public servants to make. Bound them to the same terms as the Croke Park agreement so they live in the real world and understand what people are going through.

High salaries are meant to make the jobs appealing to qualified people. Our politicians are anything but yet they earn salaries on par and in excess of their American and English equivalents despite our country having a dramatically lower GDP – please explain the justification?

@ Padraig O’Connor.
Now here is a person I look forward to reading posts from.

If the employer is bankrupt then justify the politicians salaries and expenses

@robert- the only qualification to be a TD is for people to vote you in. The Irish nation votes in school teachers and local “characters” like the Healy Raes- that’s Democracy for you. Personally, I wouldn’t cut wages- a TD should be a well paid executive but I’d halve the number of them. Does every constituency really need three or four TD’s?

@steve- that’s really scary. I won’t sleep tonight.

@steve- what’s a “cowed”by the way? Are you making up words again? What happened your “Eric” account?

@paul- I’m not justifying it particularly. My point was that every time there’s a cutback there’s a plethora of people on here saying that TD’s wages should be used instead. That figure of €16m that Robert gave would have to stretch an awful long way.

Ah yes Vincents second line of defense “i can’t understand English” Eric…?….its Steve that’s S T E V E

Oh Vincent,tiocfaidh ar la.

You are right Vincent! We have NO MONEY because your pathetic masters have given it all away, even the unsecured bond holders got paid with no legal obligation to pay but we are do gooders, pay every last cent without question….pay pay pay….the foreigners but…take take take from our own…

@steve / Eric- Our day is here.

Leaders lead by example Vincent…. Hollande handed an immediate 30% salary reduction to ALL senior and junior ministers, politicians and senior civil servants upon election….
What did our bunch of clowns do?
A junior minister on this poxy island earns more that a senior minister in France, our leaders are the highest paid in Europe and the world…..
come on Vincent in all the rights you think they are doing, where can you find the righteousness there?
Why does a Councillor in Mayo earn more than a French minister, I mean wtf?……..

@david- I’m really not defending the total spent on TD wages!

Wahay Paul! Well said….

@david- what was the alternative to paying the bondholders? No payment, no Troika deal. No Troika deal, Ireland defaults on its debts, gets cut off from the money markets. EU membership beyond precarious. FDI leaves Ireland. Unemployment goes through the roof. Tax intake falls. Social welfare costs soar. It’s very easy to say “burn the bondholders”. Not so easy to do. With that I’ll bid you goodnight.

Hope. You. Never. Need. A. Guard.
Hope. You. Never. Need. A. Nurse.
Hope. You. Never. Need. A. Firefighter.
Lets see you put your life on the line for shite money.

Answer the question you were asked

Vincent, night duty allowance and weekend allowance,
If there touched, it effects only certain groups, so in effect you think it’s reasonable to expect that they take a bigger pay cut,
Big shots in offices won’t be hit, senior managers making the decisions won’t be hit, maybe that’s why these allowances are on the table

I agree the public service needs to be transparent,? There are too many allowances just like the politicians, they should be incorporated into core pay and then assess if pay if fair or not,
Exception night duty and weekend pay which deserves a premium ,

@Vincent; We have no money?? Yet we can afford to pay Enda ‘chicken-liver’ Kenny €16,666 per month as a salary – more than most political leaders anywhere in the world!!?!
Open your eyes, smell the coffee & get real!! Just like the great famine when there was food enough to feed our starving population – there IS money in the country but we are simply not spending it wisely… Kenny’s salary, banks, shareholders, unfair taxes, electronic voting machines… I better stop, I’m beginning to get angry again!!

Yeah the public support now…. Wait till the the average joe realises that they will end up paying more taxes and more cuts to benefits because public sector workers won’t take pay cuts

You’ll find the vast majority of public sector workers are “joe public” as you condescendingly refer to people earning the average industrial wage.

Garda always have the public support.
FG and whats left of Lab are waiting for that tap on the shoulder your out of here.
It just takes a call of no confidence.

For now but when the guards get what they want the will go back to protecting the spineless snakes again and turn there back on the public. It’s a shame really as I don’t like to put the guards in the same boat as the slimeballs but money and greed and looking out for themselves will always take over. I would live the guards to turn there back in the government until someone is out in charge who actually fights to protect there citizens interests.

What a stupid comment Martin. You want the guards to turn their backs by a democratically elected government?! What then? Will we set the country on a treasure hunt to miraculously find a few billion under a stone?! The guards don’t pick and choose who they protect

*on

Martin the Garda are our police made up from men and women from our own communities. Out of uniform they are the person next door, the guy or girl in the queue behind you in the shops. They are also counting their lose change to ensure they have enough to buy their milk and bread just like the rest of us.
The difference is when they go to work they have no idea how dangerous their day may be.

SF might need a few years to admit he was even murdered in the first place

Its time this country got behind all our lower paid Public Servants, those who genuinely put their lives in danger for others or work on the front lines for low pay, rather than tear each other apart to score points. Our politicians have plenty of money when it comes to pet projects in their own constituencies, and their wages of course, if they put half as much effort into securing the future of the citizens of this country rather than the banks and businesses we wouldn’t have a problem.

I disagree, the more vincent comments, the more idiotic he sounds.

I’m amazed at his immunity to the rules especially the 3 strike system,I think we might have to just ignore him

We need Vincent to keep commenting. His comments are very interesting and illuminating, especially for those who might think about voting for FG, aka FF’s idiot twin, in the next election.

@ jim melia

maybe some sinn fein member should be minister for justice
they greet cop killers with a handshake
when they are released from prison

@simon

What in the name of god are you trolling about?

Inspector clueless is finished Eileen. Himself hogan,kenny,reilly and the rest of the sleevens are on borrowed time.
They have to be the most detested government in the history of the state.

So classy, Eileen….

@vincent,you can hardly talk considering your foul remarks

Absolutely. He hates then so much sometimes he refers to them as “police” rather than Gardai.

hello vincent the blueshirt. hows ecb negotiations going?

@david- you tell me. You obviously think you have some concrete information that the rest of the world doesn’t know. You also seem pretty gleeful? Are you getting excited by weekend reports that a deal for Ireland has been rejected? Because that would make you a pretty poor Irishman, wouldn’t you say?

paying bank debt will make me and generations to come very poor irishmen. dont be bitter vincent that your partys web of lies is coming apart and has more holes in it than a road in leitrim.

@vincent, You might well think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.

Who’ll educate your children? Who’ll make sure you have running water? Don’t pander here on a popular theme. You’ve no clue of the value of the vast majority of the public sector, many of whom operate without the job security or benefits that the media report. If the public knew the true nature and pay of the vast majority of the public sector they’d be shocked and not jumping on the bandwagon. The red tops and Indo have an awful lot to answer for in their divide and conquer policy.

Spot on Gerry. Just because a service isn’t visible doesn’t mean it’s not essential. As I’ve pointed out, a hospital with no running water or electricity or where everyone shows up for surgery at the same time is fairly useless.

In fairness teachers have a handy number with 3 months a year off, 9 to 4 Monday till Friday weekends off. That to me is a sweet deal compared to the others working 24/7 365 including christmas and public holidays, really affecting there family life.

And don’t get me started on council workers, some county council workers work a 29/30 hour week, and how many times do you see them, one fellow standing in a hole working and 3 lads watching him.

Best thing the done was contracting the work out, example there is the Road Works, private companies have them done in a lot less time. And that is all facts…

I call bullshit on your “facts”! I know for certain that every single kilometre of road is contracted out to the lowest bidder, and in some cases a ten kilometre stretch of road is built/maintained or repaired by ten different companies and the next kilometre of road can’t be worked on until the previous company or contractor are finished, does that sound cost effective to you? The stereotype of the council men standing around a hole leaning on a shovel is so contrived and juvenile it doesn’t deserve ridicule.
I challenge you sir to work one month as a teacher and see how you get on, see if its the cushy number you say it is. Teach 22 hours a week, spend another 10-15 doing prep work and corrections, another 5-10 hours meeting, taking to and dealing with parents and paperwork, another 5-10 hours on extra curricular activities and that’s just in one week.
Your febrile and childlike view of the machinery that keeps this state running on a daily basis is profoundly remedial.

@ Gerry Sutton, I take it your in the public sector, yes/no? I refer to your juvenile comment, when in fact sir you have to lower your self to use obscenities to express yourself.

Well I’d firstly state that I work in the public sector, and I know exactly how the system works. I have seen the good an the bad.retrace the comment about the lad standing on the side of the road because I only saw it two weeks ago at two different locations.

In relation to the contractors, you yourself answered the question about is it cost effect, the cheapest person gets the job. It’s not the contractors fault that the section of the road is completed by different groups. It’s a lack of future planing on there front.

Going back to the teachers that still adds up to a weekly hours of 32/37 week when most people work 40hr week..

Dealing with parents occur during school hours, a have all parent/teacher meetings I have attended for my son.

I think you are slightly over exaggerating it..

I think you need a lesson in what the true definition if obscenities is and the difference between done and did and there and their before you attempt to lecture me.

So cut the teachers pay, which means more hours where the teachers have less time to actually teach (look up the government proposals on this) which means less time to educate and help children like your son and mine. Education is the pathway to everything, gardai, nurses, firemen everything don’t you get that?

Both my parents worked in the public sector, 2 of my siblings work in the public sector, I work in the public sector. The public sector keep the country running, all of it, working together in unison. Once you understand that you’ll understand that we’re in this together and there’s not a them and us as has been propagated by this government the media and others. Get a grip

We’re not in this together. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is what this is about. I’m Peter, you’re Paul. Not surprised it meets with your approval.

I wait in anticipation.

nationally or internationally?

Ooooooooooh. Its like having our very own Mayan here on the Journal.

@vincent

I’d say Fine Gael must be delighted to have spokespeople like you rooting for them. You are the epitome of all they stand for.

Weeks away? Like when all the pensions kick in in February?

nwo…its getting closer

a defence force that scratches and plays war games. if there was a war or invasion in the morning we are screwed.

We already surrendered. How many of you voted yes to the fiscal suicide compact? Where are the protestors?

oh there is a mistake

there is only one N in the word fein

You’re right, it’s more like 28%

Get your facts in order

They have been cut john ? What are u talking about ?

Is that so

hard to feel sorry for the gardai when it comes to their earnings
after those stomach turning ”jokes”
they made about rape

@simon,3gards do not speek for the rest on your track of taught I presume you are a racist

Oh shut up. That’s one or two guards out of hundreds

Shut up you fool

Do some research on that incident and rethink your ignorant comments.