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Crazy Irish wages, Still.

  • 14-06-2010 05:14PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,582 ✭✭✭


    Reading the paper yesterday and today it amazed me to see that prison officers in IReland get an average of 80k a year each, take a months sick leave a year and that there three times as many officers to prisoners as in UK! Why did i bother studying hard and getting an honours degree only to end up on dole while lowly educated prison officers get 80k a year plus permanent job, great pension etc!
    Also saw in private sector a builders labourer with zero skills get 34k a year basic plus paid for time travelling to work, plus any overtime all due to trade union backed agreements that set min wages for certain industries. All this a result of the toxic partnership trade union/governmnet nonsense. Paying market dictated rates would maximise employment and reduce those on dole costing taxpayer a fortune.
    We can only expect to become a rich country with exports and a knowledge economy. Its very disspiritiing to see public sector workers getting massive wages when they contribute little to WEALTH of economy and have much lower educational standards than you.
    How long would it take in college and in work for a scientist or knowledge economy worker to get to 80k a year plus a great defined benefit pension.

    Now the prison officers are a bit of a special case as there has been a long history of feigniing illness to maxmising overtime for all officers and McDowell tried to clamp down on this but they still seem to be on massive money for low skill job that is less dangerous than working on a farm.

    The same applies all across public sector dominated areas like ESB where average pay is 100keuro! I dont begrudge people earning big pay but this pay in public sector comes from taxes on the wealth creating sector and is a kick in the balls to hard working private sector workers. The public sector use their industrial power to blackmail the government and public into paying them above market rates of pay.


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭danbohan


    Reading the paper yesterday and today it amazed me to see that prison officers in IReland get an average of 80k a year each, take a months sick leave a year and that there three times as many officers to prisoners as in UK! Why did i bother studying hard and getting an honours degree only to end up on dole while lowly educated prison officers get 80k a year plus permanent job, great pension etc!
    Also saw in private sector a builders labourer with zero skills get 34k a year basic plus paid for time travelling to work, plus any overtime all due to trade union backed agreements that set min wages for certain industries. All this a result of the toxic partnership trade union/governmnet nonsense. Paying market dictated rates would maximise employment and reduce those on dole costing taxpayer a fortune.
    We can only expect to become a rich country with exports and a knowledge economy. Its very disspiritiing to see public sector workers getting massive wages when they contribute little to WEALTH of economy and have much lower educational standards than you.
    How long would it take in college and in work for a scientist or knowledge economy worker to get to 80k a year plus a great defined benefit pension.

    Now the prison officers are a bit of a special case as there has been a long history of feigniing illness to maxmising overtime for all officers and McDowell tried to clamp down on this but they still seem to be on massive money for low skill job that is less dangerous than working on a farm.

    The same applies all across public sector dominated areas like ESB where average pay is 100keuro! I dont begrudge people earning big pay but this pay in public sector comes from taxes on the wealth creating sector and is a kick in the balls to hard working private sector workers. The public sector use their industrial power to blackmail the government and public into paying them above market rates of pay.

    yes the public sector in ireland is grossly overpaid , its an irish problem , another irish problem is people with degrees honours or otherwise thinking they deserve vastly inflated salarys and feeling they have an entitlement to be handed a job , stop moaning and go and create something that gives you a salary of 80k , i employed 2 polish 2 years ago, they were phds , they were working as tilers never heard them moan about not having work in their field of expertise .


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,582 ✭✭✭WalterMitty


    danbohan wrote: »
    yes the public sector in ireland is grossly overpaid , its an irish problem , another irish problem is people with degrees honours or otherwise thinking they deserve vastly inflated salarys and feeling they have an entitlement to be handed a job , stop moaning and go and create something that gives you a salary of 80k , i employed 2 polish 2 years ago, they were phds , they were working as tilers never heard them moan about not having work in their field of expertise .
    Ah i dont expect anything just think its unfair. I was unlucky enough to graduate recently enough and due to medical reasons couldnt work for a few years but can now. I am actually considering setting up a business but im worried about the macroeconomic environment here.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,364 ✭✭✭ei.sdraob


    Ah i dont expect anything just think its unfair. I was unlucky enough to graduate recently enough and due to medical reasons couldnt work for a few years but can now. I am actually considering setting up a business but im worried about the macroeconomic environment here.

    dont waste your time starting business here

    all you will get is taxes, red tape and certain people calling you a capitalist pig

    just emigrate, most countries value and reward people who work hard and are enterprising


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭danbohan


    Ah i dont expect anything just think its unfair. I was unlucky enough to graduate recently enough and due to medical reasons couldnt work for a few years but can now. I am actually considering setting up a business but im worried about the macroeconomic environment here.
    yea maybe i was bit harsh ,but you see it too am sure , very difficult times to set up business but if it was easy ;;;;;;;;;;;;;, , i am great beliver in creating your own occupation whatever your chosen field , you may not reach the 80k /100k like our prison officer friends but you probably be a lot happier .


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭danbohan


    ei.sdraob wrote: »
    dont waste your time starting business here

    all you will get is taxes, red tape and certain people calling you a capitalist pig

    just emigrate, most countries value and reward people who work hard and are enterprising


    good advice , much easier option id say , dont you love the begrudgry at all levels here!


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 792 ✭✭✭Japer


    Reading the paper yesterday and today it amazed me to see that prison officers in IReland get an average of 80k a year each, take a months sick leave a year and that there three times as many officers to prisoners as in UK! Why did i bother studying hard and getting an honours degree only to end up on dole while lowly educated prison officers get 80k a year plus permanent job, great pension etc!
    Also saw in private sector a builders labourer with zero skills get 34k a year basic plus paid for time travelling to work, plus any overtime all due to trade union backed agreements that set min wages for certain industries. All this a result of the toxic partnership trade union/governmnet nonsense. Paying market dictated rates would maximise employment and reduce those on dole costing taxpayer a fortune.
    We can only expect to become a rich country with exports and a knowledge economy. Its very disspiritiing to see public sector workers getting massive wages when they contribute little to WEALTH of economy and have much lower educational standards than you.
    How long would it take in college and in work for a scientist or knowledge economy worker to get to 80k a year plus a great defined benefit pension.

    Now the prison officers are a bit of a special case as there has been a long history of feigniing illness to maxmising overtime for all officers and McDowell tried to clamp down on this but they still seem to be on massive money for low skill job that is less dangerous than working on a farm.

    The same applies all across public sector dominated areas like ESB where average pay is 100keuro! I dont begrudge people earning big pay but this pay in public sector comes from taxes on the wealth creating sector and is a kick in the balls to hard working private sector workers. The public sector use their industrial power to blackmail the government and public into paying them above market rates of pay.

    +1 and well put.

    At a class reunion not too long ago of the class of '79, the person from the class who done best financially was not the cleverest, the most ambitious, the ones who worked hard and made sacrifices to get a degree ,those who had re-invested life savings in to their business, those who had worked 60 or 80 hours a week in their business etc ....the slow dull lad at the back of the room, who never worked hard at school, but who joined the Gardai on leaving school, now has a pension pot from the Gardai worth over a million, and is fully guaranteed with a guaranteed pension for life, after only 30 years work. He can ( and does ) do a few hours cash work to suppliment his pension, to keep himself young. He never had any stress or worries, and always had plenty of sickies, holidays etc.
    As you correctly say, Original Poster "The public sector use their industrial power to blackmail the government and public into paying them above market rates of pay". The answer ( if you are not public sector ) : emigrate if you can. Its too late for many people to do so, with property in negative equity etc.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,434 ✭✭✭doc_17


    Japer wrote: »
    +1 and well put.

    "The public sector use their industrial power to blackmail the government and public into paying them above market rates of pay". The .

    We pay more for evrything here. Car Insurance, Car Tax, Medical fees, professional services, housing etc. The attitude seems to be we'll take it while we can and worry about it later.

    Although going back to the OP I wouldn't want to be a prison officer, regardless of what it pays


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,582 ✭✭✭WalterMitty


    Japer wrote: »
    +1 and well put.

    At a class reunion not too long ago of the class of '79, the person from the class who done best financially was not the cleverest, the most ambitious, the ones who worked hard and made sacrifices to get a degree ,those who had re-invested life savings in to their business, those who had worked 60 or 80 hours a week in their business etc ....the slow dull lad at the back of the room, who never worked hard at school, but who joined the Gardai on leaving school, now has a pension pot from the Gardai worth over a million, and is fully guaranteed with a guaranteed pension for life, after only 30 years work. He can ( and does ) do a few hours cash work to suppliment his pension, to keep himself young. He never had any stress or worries, and always had plenty of sickies, holidays etc.
    As you correctly say, Original Poster "The public sector use their industrial power to blackmail the government and public into paying them above market rates of pay". The answer ( if you are not public sector ) : emigrate if you can. Its too late for many people to do so, with property in negative equity etc.
    The thing is all public sector workers have private sector friends and family and friends and familiy on social welfare, using public services etc so they are only really screwing their friends and families in the long run by demanding pay that the rest of society cant afford. Once the IMF/ECB come in to "rearrange" our finances this country will be much better for new business and for the long term sustainable economic and social success we demand.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 39,019 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,582 ✭✭✭WalterMitty


    doc_17 wrote: »
    We pay more for evrything here. Car Insurance, Car Tax, Medical fees, professional services, housing etc. The attitude seems to be we'll take it while we can and worry about it later.

    Although going back to the OP I wouldn't want to be a prison officer, regardless of what it pays
    I wouldnt like to shovel horse sh1te all day but someone does and they dont get 80k a year!

    Theres 100s of thousands of healthy men on social welfare who would do the prison officer job now and are capable of doing it. I know prison officers and they are usually only in it for the money and security of tenure and have other jobs and investment properties.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,434 ✭✭✭doc_17


    ! I dont begrudge people earning big pay but this pay in public sector comes from taxes on the wealth creating sector and is a kick in the balls to hard working private sector workers. .

    This is also a kick in the balls for low paid hard working PS workers as well.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭danbohan


    This post has been deleted.

    the same debate took place in the 80s , the same thing happened they govt borrowed to pay pampered public services while a whole generation emigrated , what we need and what we will get are two very different things i am afraid


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,121 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    Why did i bother studying hard and getting an honours degree only to end up on dole while lowly educated prison officers get 80k a year plus permanent job, great pension etc!


    I wonder this myself every morning I wake up. I spent 4 years in a very difficult course with cocky students, over fed and under worked students only to now be on the bad side of 30k a year where I am likely to stay for the foreseeable future. I don't blame anyone for this and my job is ok but I know people who flittered through an arts degree to land themselves a handy number teaching kids English and History in a very bad way.

    I got a job out of school as a clerical officer in the PS. I left after two years to go to college as I was going insane with the constant monotony of the job and at the time, that was great. However, had I stayed, shut my mouth and just kept doing the same mind destroying job instead of going to college, I would likely be earning over 30k a year now. I made my decisions and I stick by them but my god, some mornings when I have a ton of hard work to do, I whisper a silent prayer to be back in that kip again :(.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 21,223 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    doc_17 wrote: »
    This is also a kick in the balls for low paid hard working PS workers as well.

    The unions describe €35k as "low paid". That's just a blanket statement on their part, no mention of what qualifications and responsibility these people hold that makes them underpaid. When you get paid 35k for doing a job that someone in a non-taxpayer-subsidized role would get paid 20k for, you are not "low paid".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,940 ✭✭✭20Cent


    danbohan wrote: »
    ever think the reason public sector bashing takes place is because of the gross unfairness of a system that allows the situation we havehere with public servants , or are all public servants too self absorbed, delusional or just plain stupid too see that fact .

    Didn't hear anyone complaining about gross unfairness when things were going well. Public Sector were the losers not cashing in.
    Now that things have changed the public sector become enemy number one. Its an easy target I for the begrudgers I guess.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,434 ✭✭✭doc_17


    Stark wrote: »
    The unions describe €35k as "low paid". That's just a blanket statement on their part, no mention of what qualifications and responsibility these people hold that makes them underpaid. When you get paid 35k for doing a job that someone in a non-taxpayer-subsidized role would get paid 20k for, you are not "low paid".

    I'm not talking about myself. Check out the salary scale for a CO. But anyway enough of this thread. We're just going over old ground


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,582 ✭✭✭WalterMitty


    20Cent wrote: »
    Didn't hear anyone complaining about gross unfairness when things were going well. Public Sector were the losers not cashing in.
    Now that things have changed the public sector become enemy number one. Its an easy target I for the begrudgers I guess.
    Private sector people were too busy working long hours . Public sector during boom still sat around moaning and asking for benchmarking. Public spending has risen so much in past decade thats whys its so important now and is being brough to peoples attention. Many private sector workers didnt realise how good things were in public sector as the basic pay levels you hear arent the real amounts most public servants get after OT,pension, security, extra for extra qualifications, allowances etc are added in.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭danbohan


    20Cent wrote: »
    Didn't hear anyone complaining about gross unfairness when things were going well. Public Sector were the losers not cashing in.
    Now that things have changed the public sector become enemy number one. Its an easy target I for the begrudgers I guess.

    the real begrudgers are the public service , they are selfish and unpatriotic , they should voluntary accept a 30%+ cut in pay to bring them into line with other European pubic servants ,


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,121 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    20Cent wrote: »
    Didn't hear anyone complaining about gross unfairness when things were going well. Public Sector were the losers not cashing in.
    Now that things have changed the public sector become enemy number one. Its an easy target I for the begrudgers I guess.
    Private sector people were too busy working long hours . Public sector during boom still sat around moaning and asking for benchmarking. Public spending has risen so much in past decade thats whys its so important now and is being brough to peoples attention. Many private sector workers didnt realise how good things were in public sector as the basic pay levels you hear arent the real amounts most public servants get after OT,pension, security, extra for extra qualifications, allowances etc are added in.



    You are both right in a manner of speaking. When I joined the Ps out of school, almost everyone told me I was mad because I should have gone straight to college to walk into a 40k+ job four years later. So 20Cent, you are correct in a way, the average PS job was not considered to be exceptional during the boom. It's only now that people are looking at PS workers with a bitter, jealous eye. However, wages did rise to insane levels in some paces. Back in the boom, a guy could walk out of college and with his degree, a belief that he knows what he's talking about and a little luck, he could land himself 50k a year when in the private sector he would probably not even be hired.

    Walter, you are correct also the PS do have many perks that private workers don't. As I said in my post above, it's not fair that someone doing filing gets 35k a year for a pleb job. However, you have to understand that there is alot of crap floating about about the PS. Just because the average wage is 35k or so does NOT mean everyone is getting it. There are plenty of people in there who work hard and never get recognised or even a decent wage.

    As I said above, it's not right that hard work goes unrewarded and it's not right that idiots get ahead in life but life is rarely fair. At the moment, people are at the PS workers simple because they're bitter, they want someone to blame for the recession other than themselves. Inside the Ps, you have the militants who want to go on living in their bubble because they "didn't cause the recession".

    Sheltered PS union fool or angry bitter person on the dole, they are precisely the same type of person. The moral of this story is that idiots are everywhere, the only thing for the us to do is to limit the effect such people have on us which, sadly, is not an easy task.


  • Posts: 5,079 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    20Cent wrote: »
    Didn't hear anyone complaining about gross unfairness when things were going well. Public Sector were the losers not cashing in.
    Now that things have changed the public sector become enemy number one. Its an easy target I for the begrudgers I guess.

    yeah actually they did, one of the top economists involved in Benchmarking resigned BACK IN 2002!! as he could not agree with the increases....

    http://www.finance.irlgov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=248
    http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=864
    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1106/1224258193133.html

    Here are some of his publications:
    # June 2004: ‘Public-Private Earnings Differentials in Ireland, 1994-2001, ESRI Quarterly Economic Commentary, Summer (with G. Boyle and R. McElligott)
    # December 2002: ‘Benchmarking the Benchmarkers’, ESRI Quarterly Economic Commentary,

    http://economics.nuim.ie/staff/oleary/publications.shtml


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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 40,751 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gumbo


    danbohan wrote: »
    they should voluntary accept a 30%+ cut in pay to bring them into line with other European pubic servants ,

    will the cost of everything else go down 30% then too?

    my car insurance doubled this year.
    my home insurance went up 50% this year.
    my management fees went up 25% this year.
    i cant afford health insurance so cant comment on that to be fair.
    petrol costs have risen alot too, i dont get mileage or a car allowance.
    salary has dropped by 10k since i left my private sector job in Jan 2009.

    degree qualified civil/structural engineer from DIT in the PS earning mid 30's salary, so not too over the top in my opinion.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,458 ✭✭✭OMD


    kceire wrote: »
    will the cost of everything else go down 30% then too?

    my car insurance doubled this year.
    my home insurance went up 50% this year.
    my management fees went up 25% this year.
    i cant afford health insurance so cant comment on that to be fair.
    petrol costs have risen alot too, i dont get mileage or a car allowance.
    salary has dropped by 10k since i left my private sector job in Jan 2009.

    degree qualified civil/structural engineer from DIT in the PS earning mid 30's salary, so not too over the top in my opinion.

    Prices have already fallen by more than most PS take home pay has fallen.

    How did your car insurance double? Mine fell.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 40,751 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gumbo


    OMD wrote: »
    Prices have already fallen by more than most PS take home pay has fallen.

    How did your car insurance double? Mine fell.

    just couldnt get a better quote, rang them all. 29, full ncb.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,476 ✭✭✭ardmacha


    At the moment, people are at the PS workers simple because they're bitter, they want someone to blame for the recession other than themselves.

    The gombeen men voted for this government, and as the other thread says they got what they wanted. But it is easier to blame somebody else.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,163 ✭✭✭✭Liam Byrne


    danbohan wrote: »
    the real begrudgers are the public service , they are selfish and unpatriotic , they should voluntary accept a 30%+ cut in pay to bring them into line with other European pubic servants ,

    While you have a point, there is another factor. The fact that Ireland is more expensive than any other country.

    So if someone was on €25,000 in France they could be much better off. They also probably didn't pay - on their Ministers for Finance advice - €400,000 for a crappy shoebox.

    That doesn't make it right (because that cost of living element needs to come down in order to make Ireland competitive) but it is something that needs to an overall need - across both private and public sector - to charge more in order to survive.

    Until a future government tackles this, the "other countries" comparison doesn't wash.

    And yes, I agree that there's a catch 22 in there, however the fact is that it is there.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 21,223 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    kceire wrote:
    just couldnt get a better quote, rang them all. 29, full ncb.

    My car insurance fell as well. I've heard of other people's increasing, but by 10% at most. The only quote that doubled was Quinn Direct's but we all know the **** they're in.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭danbohan


    ardmacha wrote: »
    The gombeen men voted for this government, and as the other thread says they got what they wanted. But it is easier to blame somebody else.

    this gombeen government biggest failure is not banks or builders , its their failure to take on and dismantle the public sector unions the future of this country depends on it , still if they fail am sure imf wont


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,476 ✭✭✭ardmacha


    Prices have already fallen by more than most PS take home pay has fallen.

    Prices have only fallen by 4-5%, tax changes alone, unless you are extremely poorly paid, would have reduced PS pay by more than that even if there hadn't been a pay cut.

    this gombeen government biggest failure is not banks or builders , its their failure to take on and dismantle the public sector unions the future of this country depends on it

    Pure delusion. It was banks and builders that brought down this country, unions only played a bit part. People here seem to think that unions walk on water when in fact they are relatively unimportant. Until people stop electing gombeen politicans then nothing can be done.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 512 ✭✭✭wilson10


    Heard Tom Parlon on the radio this morning crying about the high minimum wage in the construction industry and the fact that builders and sub contractors can't compete with northern contractors who can pay much lower rates. They're looking for a 20% reduction in the minimum wage in the construction industry.

    I felt like ringing in and shouting HELLOO, who gave it to them in the first place. The construction industry gave in to the unions just like the government did and lobbed it on to the price of the house,"Sure the poor saps are queing up to buy them and the banks are lashing out the money, happy days".

    No thanks Tom, I'll save my sympathy for the poor saps like my son and daughter who are trying to keep a roof over their heads, having paid twice too much for it.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,607 ✭✭✭✭sceptre


    I've deleted the more irrelevant pap from this thread. Five or so posts not interested in discussion of the actual topic (as a suggestion, if you're not going to discuss the topic, it's generally just wasting effort to tell people that).

    /mod


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