This is true, because the increased budgets were spent on wages. That is always the choice - capital or wages, and the unions chose wages.
Please come and spend one day in the school, and then you can see that there are no excess resources, and in fact, they have been dramatically underresourced for many years.
This is true for all of the public sector, healthcare sector and education sector.This is true, because the increased budgets were spent on wages. That is always the choice - capital or wages, and the unions chose wages.
Sorry, you don't get off that easy. That's not the choice. The real choices are something like; decent wages and decent resources, or continued tax reliefs for pension contributions, tax releifs for property investors, tax reliefs for private healthcare clinics, tax reliefs for private colleges, state subsidies to private schools etc etc. It all comes out the one pot, so if you're going to make comparisons, let's look at the big picture. Don't expect teachers to take the blame for poor funding of schools.This is true, because the increased budgets were spent on wages. That is always the choice - capital or wages, and the unions chose wages.
This is true for all of the public sector, healthcare sector and education sector.
I remember not so long ago the nurses holding the sick and vulnerable to ransom in order to get a 10% pay increase and a 12.5% reduction in their working week (a 25% pay hourly rate pay increase). Within weeks of getting this massive increase they were back outside the A&E departments protesting about lack of resources. Obviously Liam Doran doesn't understand irony.
The same is true of the teachers unions who, after getting round after round of massive pay increases then protested about class sizes and school buildings.
These people are either very stupid or very hypocritical.
There is lots of talk about increasing competitiveness etc at the moment. The government is still spinning the same nonsense about “The Knowledge Economy” as if it is a magic wand that can sort out all of our problems. We need to get the stuff inside the box right before we can start thinking outside it. The bottom line is that as a nation we all get paid too much. The public sector get paid more than the state can afford to pay them and the private sector get paid more than it sustainable to make them competitive in an open international market.
We aren’t just way out of kilter with Poland and China, we are way out of kilter with the UK and Germany. As an example I got an email from a recruitment company today offering candidates for jobs here and in Northern Ireland. Accountancy Technicians here are looking for €26k-€28k a year. The same sort of people are looking for £12k-£14k per year in the North.
Forget about everything else when it comes to competitiveness; we need to cut wages significantly right across the country. There are, of course, exceptions, but on a macro level it is our biggest problem.
That is the choice. A department, such as health or education, has a budget - just like you and I have a budget. We decide how we spend that budget. They chose to spend it on wages. You can't keep taxing people just like the old monarchs of Europe - sooner or later the money runs out and everyone ends up poorer as a result.That's not the choice.
The pot will be empty in another few months. Sometime early next year.Sorry, you don't get off that easy. That's not the choice. The real choices are something like; decent wages and decent resources, or continued tax reliefs for pension contributions, tax releifs for property investors, tax reliefs for private healthcare clinics, tax reliefs for private colleges, state subsidies to private schools etc etc. It all comes out the one pot, so if you're going to make comparisons, let's look at the big picture. Don't expect teachers to take the blame for poor funding of schools.
Personally I would find it impossible to live on 28k, particularly after tax. When you say "there are of course exceptions" would you be referring to yourself by any chance? Or are you happy to reduce your wages to 14k sterling?
Strange how pretty much every economic forecast (even the most pessimistic ones) seem to disagree with your conclusion here.The pot will be empty in another few months. Sometime early next year.
Do they? That is indeed very strange.Strange how pretty much every economic forecast (even the most pessimistic ones) seem to disagree with your conclusion here.
I wasn't referring to front line education services, where I agree with you about under-resourcing at primary and secondary level. This is exactly why I disagree with the approch of blanket pay cuts and resource cuts in all services.Please come and spend one day in the school, and then you can see that there are no excess resources, and in fact, they have been dramatically underresourced for many years.
Absolutely right. The problem is that government has over-extended the number of services over the years, which put ever increasing pressure on the most important services. Now that money is running out it should be an approach of scrapping unnecessary services, not cutting everything back.There is no more money. When are people going to realise this? Reality will have to dawn at some stage. People all over the world deserve a decent wage for the hard work they do. But they can only be paid with the money that's available. Where do people think that money comes from?
That is the choice. A department, such as health or education, has a budget - just like you and I have a budget. We decide how we spend that budget. They chose to spend it on wages. You can't keep taxing people just like the old monarchs of Europe - sooner or later the money runs out and everyone ends up poorer as a result.
Our spending on health matches that of the best nations in Europe, they spent wisely, we spent poorly.
Sorry, I misread your post. Though (surprise, surprise) I still disagree. This simplistic approach of 'front-line good, back-office bad' is nonsense. There are hard-working, over-stressed, under-resourced front line and back office workers in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. There are a few lazy shysters in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. The techie guy/gal who is coding the IT systems to manage the X-ray results is just as important as the radiographer who is taking the xray, and maybe even more important in terms of bringing out real cost savings in the future.I wasn't referring to front line education services, where I agree with you about under-resourcing at primary and secondary level. This is exactly why I disagree with the approch of blanket pay cuts and resource cuts in all services.
Nope, that's not the choice. You are deliberately ignoring the income side of the budget, particularly taxation and elimination of tax reliefs. The money is there, it just isn't being collected for public services at the moment. Our tax model has to change.
Nope, that's not the choice. You are deliberately ignoring the income side of the budget, particularly taxation and elimination of tax reliefs. The money is there, it just isn't being collected for public services at the moment. Our tax model has to change.
There are a few lazy shysters in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. The techie guy/gal who is coding the IT systems to manage the X-ray results is just as important as the radiographer who is taking the xray, and maybe even more important in terms of bringing out real cost savings in the future.
On the contrary - the income side is foremost on my mind. The country is spending 50bn when it earns 30bn. There is scope for tax rises in that 50% of workers pay no tax at all. There is also scope for closing off tax shelters. But there is no magic bullet. The country must live within its means. This is simple reality.Nope, that's not the choice. You are deliberately ignoring the income side of the budget, particularly taxation and elimination of tax reliefs. The money is there, it just isn't being collected for public services at the moment. Our tax model has to change.
Sorry, I misread your post. Though (surprise, surprise) I still disagree. This simplistic approach of 'front-line good, back-office bad' is nonsense. There are hard-working, over-stressed, under-resourced front line and back office workers in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. There are a few lazy shysters in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. The techie guy/gal who is coding the IT systems to manage the X-ray results is just as important as the radiographer who is taking the xray, and maybe even more important in terms of bringing out real cost savings in the future.
THis is nonsense. Perhaps you haven't heard of VAT - it brings in more revenue for the state than income tax, and everyone who lives here pays VAT. There are 0% of workers that 'pay no tax at all'.On the contrary - the income side is foremost on my mind. The country is spending 50bn when it earns 30bn. There is scope for tax rises in that 50% of workers pay no tax at all.
It would really help turn this into a productive debate if you did some basic research. You have clearly no idea what actually goes on in local authorities and Revenue. Local authorities have taken on a whole raft of new functions over the period that motor tax payments have moved online, and staff have been reallocated into new services, without increasing staffing levels. Similarly for Revenue, they took on huge increases in activity levels/tax collected in the boom years with no increases in staff. The Govt have also been reallocating Revenue staff to other more critical areas - particularly Dept Social Protection - since the crunch began.Having lazy or do-nothing workers is not the problem. The problem is that there are way too many inefficiencies without any incentive to get rid of them. During the Croke Park negotiations unions came out and said that the cuts needed could be achieved through changes in work practices and increasing efficiencies. Why was this not ongoing for the past 10 years?!?!
IT systems have vastly improved the way motor tax is collected. Has this resulted in any reduction in motor tax offices and their employees? The same is the case for the revenue offices.
This simplistic approach of 'front-line good, back-office bad' is nonsense. There are hard-working, over-stressed, under-resourced front line and back office workers in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. There are a few lazy shysters in all parts of the public sector and all parts of the private sector. The techie guy/gal who is coding the IT systems to manage the X-ray results is just as important as the radiographer who is taking the xray, and maybe even more important in terms of bringing out real cost savings in the future.