(i) There is no level of wilful self delusion on display. You said it yourself, this is a forum and not a court of law. Long may people have their opinions and feel free to express them. But, if you have aspirations to mirror some North Korean leader then drive on.
There's a rich vein of hyperbole running through your post but the Strawman stuff about North Korea is just gas. I want our democratically elected leaders and the people they appoint to run the Health Service. I don't want vested interest groups with a mandate to act against the greater good and the public interest to stymie those people. Tell me again how that's like North Korea?
(ii) Government departments are not going to close and I've never met somebody who wants them to. Just imagine our republic without Revenue Commissioners and Dept of Social Protection.
Where did I suggest otherwise? More Strawman nonsense.
Those employed in all government organisations have a duty to the public and most deliver on it.
No, they don't, certainly not to an efficient and high standard.
There are chaff and wheat in every organisation (even in yours).
Yes, and it is managed out, not managed up.
(iii) No competition for Government Departments - Do you want another Revenue Commissioners set up to compete with the existing one? Our Revenue Commissioners may not have all the best practices, but mainly they do the best available.
I'm not suggesting that there should be competition. I'm simply asking you to acknowledge that the absence of competition removed one of the key drivers for efficiency in any organisation.
(iv) Newsflash! Purple - Unions are not there to get the most for their members and have them do the least. That is the bar room spoof of somebody who is blatantly guessing and spewing out something after twenty four pints of flat cheap lager.
So when have they ever driven higher standards? When have they ever not looked for more money when they thought there was an opportunity to get it? When have they ever accepted higher standards and more efficient work practices without looking for more money?
(v) But, keep it up. Like I have often said much of your posts recruit many people to the trade union movement. You appear to want trade unions just to die. Don't worry unions are losing members and the recruitment of new members is getting more difficult (probably their biggest threat).
No, I want them to stop hurting the sick and vulnerable. Ideally I'd like to see them representing vulnerable and low paid people but there's no money in that for them. They are a cohort of vested interest groups taking money from the State for middle-class and upper middle-class employees in the protected sectors of the economy which should go to those who actually need it. Every time I hear them bleat and snort on the TV or Radio I have a mental image of the last few pages of Animal Farm.
(vi) Let's say Trade Unionism dies in Ireland and no representation exists for management or staff. How long do you think it will be before genuine chaos erupts?
Another Strawman argument.
(vii) I can honestly say having spent most of my working life in the Civil/Public Service and having spent most of that time as a low level trade union representative conditions improved for my colleagues and work practices and output improved for the employer. (Remember what I already said about win/win). Everybody who asked me to represent them I would have ensured had a genuine case for representation. I flew no kites and suffered no fools in either management or staff. But, I am not crass enough to say that I haven't seen kites flown or fools flowing in management and staff.
Yet I can talk about the Lab Technician from Nigeria in a Dublin Hospital who is astounded by the waste, the work practices, the over staffing and the antiquated IT systems.
I can talk about the friend who works in the HR department of a State body. He works in a team of 8 and 3 of them haven't answered a single query since they started working from home 18 months ago. He said it's okay though, they did bugger all in the office anyway. I can talk about his run in's with the Union, the ridiculous Strike Ballots they had that he spoke against. I can talk about how he was blacklisted in that job and had to transfer to a different institution. I can tell you about how he was called a trouble maker by the Union rep the first day in his new job. His phrase is "There's no bullying like Union bullying" because the management are scared of the Union and won't act to support him.
I can tell you about the people I work with who lost previous jobs because, in their words, "the Union closed the place down".
I've no doubt that you did the right thing when working as a Union rep but in the greater scheme of things Unions are a cancer on Irish society.