God save the King: Civil Service Privellige Days for "Kings Birthday and Empire Day"

[RoyRover]

And again we are the laughing stock of the world...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2011/mar/22/ireland

Now that the Labour comrades hold the balance of power - at least we would hope to see some parity of esteem with the private sector workers and public sector workers handing back these extra days holliers in the national interest.

Mind your head now for those pigs flying overhead, as our little country slides further into the mire...

 

[NOAH]

Look at it this way, if the government was so keen, why did they opt for 15 junior ministers?? and 15 actual ministers, plus a super minister!! What does a junior minister do, apart from laughing all the way to the bank. The simple fact is they are all at it.

The only way to lead is from the top so if the tops acts the pric big time it cascades down the line. Look at the banks, paying golf membership for pensioners!!

noah

 

[Deiseblue]

Look at it this way, if the government was so keen, why did they opt for 15 junior ministers?? and 15 actual ministers, plus a super minister!! What does a junior minister do, apart from laughing all the way to the bank. The simple fact is they are all at it.

The only way to lead is from the top so if the tops acts the pric big time it cascades down the line. Look at the banks, paying golf membership for pensioners!!

noah

The Banks do not pay golf memberships for pensioners .

On production of a receipt they will make a maximum contribution of 329 euros towards club fees , such contribution is then taxed at the highest tax rate which applies to each individual pensioner.

This applies to the vast majority of pensioners although retired execs get more by way of reimbursement.

 

[Deiseblue]

And again we are the laughing stock of the world...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2011/mar/22/ireland

Now that the Labour comrades hold the balance of power - at least we would hope to see some parity of esteem with the private sector workers and public sector workers handing back these extra days holliers in the national interest.

Mind your head now for those pigs flying overhead, as our little country slides further into the mire...

The employers and the Unions representing staff presented their cases to an independent arbitration board who found that the employers failed to substantiate their argument.

I fail to see how the Labour Party are involved in this process but am hugely heartened by your view that the party hold the balance of power !

 

[liaconn]

And again we are the laughing stock of the world...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2011/mar/22/ireland

Now that the Labour comrades hold the balance of power - at least we would hope to see some parity of esteem with the private sector workers and public sector workers handing back these extra days holliers in the national interest.

Mind your head now for those pigs flying overhead, as our little country slides further into the mire...

I'm sorry. We've screwed up our economy in the most appalling way, we have just received the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal, we have former Government Ministers being exposed for this, that and the other every second week. And you think Civil Servant's holidays are making us the laughing stock of the world?????

 

[MrMan]

I'm sorry. We've screwed up our economy in the most appalling way, we have just received the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal, we have former Government Ministers being exposed for this, that and the other every second week. And you think Civil Servant's holidays are making us the laughing stock of the world?????

I think most of the above could be levelled at a lot of countries, but most claiming independence from an agressive occupying state would not contemplate having days to honour their previous oppressors.

 

[liaconn]

Seriously, you think that's why we're the laughing stock of the world? I don't think so. Also, that is not what privilege days have been for in many many years. They are two leave days that you had to take at Easter and Christmas because the buildings closed down. If we were to follow your logic, people who don't believe in God and saints shouldn't be celebrating St Patrick's day and calling it a bank holiday.

 

[Howitzer]

The Banks do not pay golf memberships for pensioners .

On production of a receipt they will make a maximum contribution of 329 euros towards club fees , such contribution is then taxed at the highest tax rate which applies to each individual pensioner.

This applies to the vast majority of pensioners although retired execs get more by way of reimbursement.

Are you being pedantic or defending the practice?

Some Banks make a contribution to golf membership of pensioners.

I don't see how this is defensible when those banks are effectively bankrupt and laying off, literally, thousands of their current staff.

 

[Sylvester3]

I don't really see the problem, according to the article after the war the days were reallocated to Christmas and Easter, so they were no longer 'in honour' of Britains institutions. I am an athiest, I have thrown off the shackles of religion and faith, yet I quite happily take the holidays that were originally instituted for the purposes of celebrating that.

If they are to go then there needs to be negotiation between the employees and the employer, not a dirty tricks campaign to make people look foolish.

 

[dereko1969]

It's a stupid article - her comment beneath in which she presumes that the civil servants who worked hugely long hours at the time of the IMF deal were allowed time off in lieu shows how little research she did. People at my grade don't get time off in lieu for working very long hours and those who worked in Finance at the time didn't get time off in lieu.

 

[Ceist Beag]

Agree with the last two posters - the article is poorly written and also obviously poorly researched based on what derek states. The title of the article (Irish civil servants get day off for King. Almost 100 years after independence, it has emerged that civil servants still get days off to celebrate the monarch's birthday) is complete nonsense, admitted by the journalist later in the article where she points out that they days were reallocated to a day off at Easter and at Christmas - so quite obviously they are no longer celebrating the monarch's birthday! As liaconn has pointed out, if we're getting so worked up about this non story then we've really lost the bigger picture here!

 

[Deiseblue]

Are you being pedantic or defending the practice?

Some Banks make a contribution to golf membership of pensioners.

I don't see how this is defensible when those banks are effectively bankrupt and laying off, literally, thousands of their current staff.

Nope , simply pointing out that the major Banks do not pay the golf membership for pensioners as claimed by a previous poster- they simply make a taxable contribution to same - big difference .

The Banks are unpopular enough without adding fuel to the fire by incorrectly presuming that the Banks are paying out thousands of euros to enable individual pensioners to join golf clubs - pure balderdash !

I'm simply setting the record straight.

 

[Sunny]

Stupid lazy article. The reason it was such a news item was that it was an example of the difficulties the Croke Park Agreement faced when bringing in reforms. Not a mention of that though.

 

[liaconn]

It's a stupid article - her comment beneath in which she presumes that the civil servants who worked hugely long hours at the time of the IMF deal were allowed time off in lieu shows how little research she did.

I noticed that too. She should get her facts right before she throws insults around. Not only would they not have got time off in lieu, they probably weren't even able to take their allocation of annual leave for the year due to pressure of work.

 

[Purple]

Stupid lazy article. The reason it was such a news item was that it was an example of the difficulties the Croke Park Agreement faced when bringing in reforms. Not a mention of that though.

+1.
The Brits are trying to deflect from their own problems at the moment.

 

[shnaek]

She should get her facts right

Very few journalists commenting on Ireland's fiscal collapse have their facts right. Thus there is an amount of ignorance out there about the entire situation. Facts have been bypassed in favour of sentiment. Hard to get the facts about anything in the papers these days, though some are more knowledgeable than others.

 

[csirl]

The Banks do not pay golf memberships for pensioners .

On production of a receipt they will make a maximum contribution of 329 euros towards club fees , such contribution is then taxed at the highest tax rate which applies to each individual pensioner.

This applies to the vast majority of pensioners although retired execs get more by way of reimbursement.

The banks should not be paying towards golf, or any other type of club, fees for anyone full stop. The tab for this is ultimately picked up by the taxpayer.

 

[Bronte]

Nope , simply pointing out that the major Banks do not pay the golf membership for pensioners as claimed by a previous poster- they simply make a taxable contribution to same - big difference .

.

You've no idea how much it cheers me up to learn that our bankrupt banks who I'm paying for in taxes are using the money given to them by taxpayers to help ex employees play golf. It makes not a blind bit of difference whether the money is in cash or a taxable contribution. It is absolutely obscene.

 

[Deiseblue]

You've no idea how much it cheers me up to learn that our bankrupt banks who I'm paying for in taxes are using the money given to them by taxpayers to help ex employees play golf. It makes not a blind bit of difference whether the money is in cash or a taxable contribution. It is absolutely obscene.

I can well understand your ire , however I am merely making the point that the Banks are not paying for pensioners golf membership fees in their entirety as suggested by a previous poster
- they are making a taxable contribution towards same.

Just setting out the facts .

 

[MrMan]

Seriously, you think that's why we're the laughing stock of the world? I don't think so. Also, that is not what privilege days have been for in many many years. They are two leave days that you had to take at Easter and Christmas because the buildings closed down. If we were to follow your logic, people who don't believe in God and saints shouldn't be celebrating St Patrick's day and calling it a bank holiday.

No I actually don't think that we are a laughing stock at all. I don't presume for one minute that we are taken as seriously on the global stage that many seem to fret so much about.
If there were two days off for the King & the empire and they were subsequently removed then replacing them with two different days off is simply moving the goalposts.

I believe in God, but I worked St Patricks day and didn't get paid extra for it so i'm not sure your analogy stands up.