Decisive action in short supply
Related Articles
THE extraordinary spectacle of Fianna Fail backbenchers effectively telling their leadership to stop messing about and start addressing the fiscal crisis is an indication of how aimless the search for solutions has become.
The backbenchers focused on Government dithering over the unions' unpaid leave proposal and, after a stormy parliamentary party meeting, Mary O'Rourke said the Government is to press ahead with achieving the necessary savings as originally planned, through direct cuts to public pay.
What is needed is cash, she said. Now.
It is refreshing to hear some plain speaking, but for whom was the deputy speaking?
It is hard to believe that her nephew, the Minister for Finance, who has repeatedly stated the need for effective action to reduce an unaffordable public service pay bill, is seriously contemplating extra time off as even a small part of the solution.
Union leaders' protestations that the arrangement could deliver significant savings without any disruption to services or reduction in productivity are transparently false. To carry it to its logical conclusion, if no hours at all were worked next year in the public service, it would solve the pay bill at a stroke, but the country would cease to function.
Of course, the Fianna Fail backbenchers are voicing the angry views of constituents, on whose votes they rely, itself an indication that the vast majority of people now acknowledge the dire and dangerous state of the economy and want to see the Cabinet take effective action.
The current "deal, no deal" performance, just days before the Budget, appears to have concentrated people's minds and brought frustration and impatience to boiling point.
Everyone, with the possible exception of a few union leaders, now appreciates the seriousness of our situation.
Colm McCarthy, who has identified a host of ways in which the Government might make savings, pointed out yesterday that a "band aid" is not the answer. But then, it was people like Mr McCarthy who the general secretary of the INO probably had in mind when he said people should "back off and keep their mouths shut". Even if they do not yet shout it in the streets, people now know the reality.
If the Government fails to take decisive action, it is creating a dismal legacy for our children.
Irish Independent
