Originally Posted by
Stewie
Because they are prepared to work for a lot less than Irish people. If you come here and share a house with 6 to 8 people your rent even in Dublin can be as low as €25/35 a week not a long term thing but if you are willing to put up with it for a few years work your arse off you can go home with a nice nest egg to buy a house start a business. You will be working for probably less than minimum wage no over time rates no benefits.
Irish people can't and shouldn't have to work like that these people are being exploited.
As for your fear of the unions I disagree I think the unions are voicing reasonable opposition to government policies that will throw this country into a deeper recession. Cutting wages across the board is not the solution reform of the public service including redundancies where necessary would be my choice. Just taking money from public servants will only mean that there is less money all round at the end of the day Public servants spend their wages in private enterprises.
People are spinning public service pay using averages to justify wage cuts anyone who has even a passing knowledge of statistics knows averages mean fuck all. For example a hospital consultant with 7 nurses each nurse earns €40,000 and the consultant earns €250000 thats €530,000 between them at an average of €66,250 it completely distorts the figures. A 10% pay cut across the board will save 53,000 but will make a huge dent in 40,000 but still leave the consultant on €225,000
Wage cuts for high earners but anyone below 50,000 should be left alone.
The big problem is the Euro people are afraid to say it and the pro Euro lobby will do anything but admit it the Euro is valued far to high for what Ireland needs and the Euro low interest rates are what got us into this mess in the first place. We have lost control of our currency and the basic tools any government would use to control the economy. So we are in being forced to cut wages to lower costs compared to our neighbours were as the UK for example has allowed Sterling to devalue.
Trace the causes of this crisis and they stem from us joining the Euro and loosing control over our interest rates the government had no tools to try and slow the property boom and tried to use stamp duty as an economic tool to slow the property boom but instead made the economy dependent on property taxes that have now disappeared.
All the gobshites that voted for the Maastricht Treaty back in 1992 and ignored the warnings about getting rid of our own currency are who I blame.
Of course theses people will tell you we would be screwed without the Euro we would have gone the way of Iceland but the truth is we would never have ended up here if it was not for the Euro.
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