Workers offered 10cents as TDs climb to €98,000


WHEN politicians knock on doors seeking our votes they stop short of telling us they love us.
But when it comes to any distribution of goodies, we are at the back of the queue as they mop up another generous wage hike.
What we are putting up with is nothing short of reprehensible.
The lads and lassies of the Dáil, our gracious TDs, have had their mitts out again to accept another bucket of money that will bring their generous salaries next door to €100,000, plus expenses.
Senators too have had more money shovelled into their pockets and of course that is also embellished with expenses.
All this is at a time when a Government-appointed body called The Low Pay Commission could come up only with a proposed pitiful increase of 10 cents.
And a grouping of TDs from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens voted against a suggested plan to help out of work Debenhams employees.

Union walkout
Yes, it is hard to credit but a miserly 10 cents was the best that the Low Pay Commission could put on the table to top up the national minimum wage of €10.10 an hour.
That led to the trade union reps on the commission walking out in disgust, saying it was not prepared up to sign up to what some called a derisory offer.

The walkout by Patricia King, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and Gerry Light of the Mandate Union throws the commission into turmoil and may now leave any heavy lifting on the Government’s doorstep.
The latter will hardly lead to any optimism among our hard working men and women who were lauded for being so courageous at the peak of the pandemic as FF, FG and the Greens simply have no appetite to feed the families of those who backbone our country.
But the politicians’ own hunger for money would appear to be insatiable.

Small business respect
Come next election time, voters should not forget the figures, 10 cents for the real workers and in contrast, another hefty rise at a time when the same mollycoddled boys and girls of the Dáil have cut Covid payment to those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
Let’s not forget the unfortunate ministers who all but admitted that they cannot do their own jobs without the aid of spin doctors and advisers.
P45s must be out of print as those we elected, God love us, to represent us are simply not able to stand on their own legs.
If all this weren’t so callous it would be laughable.
All this is with respect to small businesses in particular in our communities, many of whom are struggling to keep their doors open, but in Kilkenny in particular are known to give staff the respect they deserve.
In God we trust but our politicians at all levels have a question mark over them.
Meanwhile the servants continue to be paid a hell of a lot more than the masters.

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