A harsh lesson for all of us
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THE Tanaiste must be reasonably inured to heckles and jeers by now, having had to deliver bad news on so many occasions in the Dail, but it's not often that she gets booed for stating the obvious in clear and unambiguous language.
Mary Coughlan warned teachers of further significant cuts in public spending yesterday when she made her first speech as Education Minister.
She told delegates at the INTO conference in Galway that the public finances still had to be stabilised and that the Government would have to commit less money to public services for the foreseeable future.
The Government needs another €3bn in the next Budget, combined with 3pc growth next year if the country is to have any chance of recovery within an acceptable time frame.
Goodbody Stockbrokers, in optimistic mood yesterday, revised its GDP forecasts upwards to 2.8pc from previous estimates of 2.4pc. The new estimate is close to what will be forecast in the Budget, but the Government will still have to find that €3bn.
The country is virtually broke and still borrowing €55m a day, principally to pay public service workers' wages. Moreover, public sector pay has long outstripped its counterpart in the private sector.
If public sector workers had any lingering doubts that their private sector counterparts -- those who still have jobs -- were not playing their part, it was dispelled by the latest survey, released this morning, which showed that two-thirds of businesses have imposed pay cuts, averaging 13pc, on employees. Pay cuts have been substantial and widespread in private companies.
Ms Coughlan told the teachers that she was as sick as the rest of us to see billions being sunk into the banking system while spending was curtailed.
She and her government colleagues believe they have found the path to economic recovery and that the country can afford the billions it will take to restore the banking system.
The message the Tanaiste was presumably trying to get across yesterday is that the two processes are inextricably linked and there will be much pain and sacrifice before they are achieved.
All sections of society, including a public sector committed to reform, will have to play their part if we are to regain a vibrant, competitive economy.
Irish Independent
