€5335 for the Dept. of Social protection annual retired staff get together

Itsdacraic

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Shock? Really?

€5k out of a multi-billion euro budget.
Get over it.

Five grand for this party but I'd imagine that the cost for all the parties the tax payer covers each year for government workers is substantially higher. Every department most likely gets a couple of grand for their party and in this day and age it simply is not on. If staff want a Christmas party then they should pay for it themselves as most people do.

Boombastic

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

parasites still on the take even in retirement

Saddest thing about this is that some people are actually defending it, as if it is grand:rolleyes:

Boombastic

Deleted User wrote: »

Five grand for this party but I'd imagine that the cost for all the parties the tax payer covers each year for government workers is substantially higher. Every department most likely gets a couple of grand for their party and in this day and age it simply is not on. If staff want a Christmas party then they should pay for it themselves as most people do.

It wasn't a Christmas party, the bill for that one hasn't come yet..

therealgirl

Boombastic wrote: »

Saddest thing about this is that some people are actually defending it, as if it is grand:rolleyes:

Sure its grand, laugh away if you haven't hit rock bottom yet due to the cuts

Boombastic

Boombastic wrote: »

It wasn't a Christmas party, the bill for that one hasn't come yet..

I know it wasn't, I was merely saying that if staff want a party be that Christmas or whatever then they should pay for it themselves.

Fromthetrees

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Shock? Really?

€5k out of a multi-billion euro budget.
Get over it.

It's public money being spent on ex staff. It exemplifies what is wrong with this country. When enough people don't 'get over it' we will have a better country to live in.

Ayyashure it's only a few squids, whattava ya haven yourself buddie. :cool:

General Relativity

Boombastic wrote: »

Saddest thing about this is that some people are actually defending it, as if it is grand:rolleyes:

The party cost 5 grand for ~250 people. Retired people. People who have paid more tax then you or I three or four times over. Get over it.

Boombastic

Fromthetrees wrote: »

.......... whattava ya haven yourself buddie. :cool:

Take a free drink there is a wide selection and don't forget to put your name in for the raffle:pac:

A total of €830 in drinks was purchased, consisting of three cases of white wine, four cases of red wine, two bottles of Jameson whiskey, a bottle of Smirnoff vodka, Bacardi rum and gin.
Trays of Guinness cans and Heineken were also laid out, with the remainder of the bill made up of water and soft drinks.
Spot prizes for the assembled guests were also provided courtesy of the taxpayer, with €1,000 spent on 18 One4all gift vouchers.

Jaysoose

General Relativity wrote: »

The party cost 5 grand for ~250 people. Retired people. People who have paid more tax then you or I three or four times over. Get over it.

Are you serious? the people dont even work there anymore and as such are entitled to absolutely nothing.

therealgirl

General Relativity wrote: »

The party cost 5 grand for ~250 people. Retired people. People who have paid more tax then you or I three or four times over. Get over it.

Oooh, that's part of what life is like when you retire after paying your taxes? Great!

emo72

^^^^havent the heart to respond to that thoughtless ****. words fail me

Boombastic

General Relativity wrote: »

The party cost 5 grand for ~250 people. Retired people. People who have paid more tax then you or I three or four times over. Get over it.

People who got payout when they retired and also probably got a party when they retired


250 people

Postage €700...that's €2.80 to frank each invitation:eek: I suppose the franking allowance is calculated in that because a stamp is only 55cent

Sully

Typical media having a pop at the government and trying to divide the people over the public sector. This is a complete non story. Headlines and content written purely to sensationalise a non-story. Is this the best the media can do to show possible ‘waste’ of public tax payers money?

Your talking about €20 per person at a Christmas Function – a norm in both the public and private sector for decades. People on here claiming their employer doesn’t bring them out or they have to pay for it themselves. I remember this during the Celtic tiger – businesses didn’t give a red cent towards their staff to say “Thanks for all the hardwork, its appreciated”. The fact is that a lot of small, medium and large businesses DO in fact pay towards Christmas parties. Restaurants and Pubs rely massively on the income from staff parties such as these, especially during these hard economic times. This scope also includes public sector parties – although to a lesser degree or with much less funding.

This party would have had a large number of people on a low salary. Don’t immediately think it was high flying public sector workers raking it in with high wages and high expenses. These people at the party would have been people on the ground dealing with the public on a daily basis. I wouldn’t begrudge any person being paid a certain amount towards their Christmas party – public or private. Within reason of course. I think what was spent is a drop in the ocean and is hardly breaking the bank or a deal breaker towards budget cuts.

There is far bigger financial wastage in the public sector than a 5k Christmas Function for a few hundred staff members who have got themselves a job and work hard it.

This is a once-a year/once-off payment. Its not going to save child benefit, carers cuts and so on. Its a tiny amount. Very small. I'm all for efficient and proper use of tax payers money but this is nothing. Media having a field day as people get talking about those pesky civil servants and their entitlements - forgetting that its the norm across the private sector which is funded by those who pay for the products/services (ie citizens of Ireland).

Complete non story when we could be making headlines about our TDs expenses and how cuts to that could have saved the cut across social welfare. That's considerably higher than a pesky €20 a head function by the Dept. of Social Protection.

Odysseus

That is not bad value actually, drinks for 250 people cost 830e that works out at 3.32e each.

JustAddWater

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Shock? Really?

€5k out of a multi-billion euro budget.
Get over it.

NO! Just 1 instance of countless inefficiencies costing €5k. Plenty plenty more. €5k would pay a gaurd or 2's wages for 1 month

They all add up and the government should not be seen to be throwing parties with our money while telling us they're broke

There's no ****ing pleasing some people. Anyone would be bashed here for having no job, complaining of being broke and having no money for a 2nd holiday and yet have SKY HD and an Xbox etc... In other words people who complain about being broke yet live the highlife get bashed here

When the government do it day in day out, people that are OK with that?

Double standards

General Relativity

Jaysoose wrote: »

Are you serious? the people dont even work there anymore and as such are entitled to absolutely nothing.

Except the department think they are, and thus spend 5000 a year of their budget on them.

emo72

in my job we cant really afford to pay for a christmas drink, and we havent for a few years. its about helping the company survive.

a few of us lads will go out for a few pints on friday and buy our own drink. we do it because we want to. and we are happy to pay for ourselves.

why cant they do it?

Boombastic

Sully wrote: »

Typical media having a pop at the government and trying to divide the people over the public sector. This is a complete non story. Headlines and content written purely to sensationalise a non-story. Is this the best the media can do to show possible ‘waste’ of public tax payers money?

€1,000 more spent this year than last year, in times of austerity, no it's not a non story

50 peoples house hold charge
15 carers cut at €325

Sully wrote: »

Your talking about €20 per person at a Christmas Function – a norm in both the public and private sector for decades. People on here claiming their employer doesn’t bring them out or they have to pay for it themselves. I remember this during the Celtic tiger – businesses didn’t give a red cent towards their staff to say “Thanks for all the hardwork, its appreciated”. The fact is that a lot of small, medium and large businesses DO in fact pay towards Christmas parties. Restaurants and Pubs rely massively on the income from staff parties such as these, especially during these hard economic times. This scope also includes public sector parties – although to a lesser degree or with much less funding.

No your not, we are talking about a department, with a serious backlog and budget deficit shelling out money for ex-staff members to stick their noses int he through

Sully wrote: »

This party would have had a large number of people on a low salary. Don’t immediately think it was high flying public sector workers raking it in with high wages and high expenses. These people at the party would have been people on the ground dealing with the public on a daily basis. I wouldn’t begrudge any person being paid a certain amount towards their Christmas party – public or private. Within reason of course. I think what was spent is a drop in the ocean and is hardly breaking the bank or a deal breaker towards budget cuts.

I think maybe you should read the article

Sully wrote: »

There is far bigger financial wastage in the public sector than a 5k Christmas Function for a few hundred staff members who have got themselves a job and work hard it.

Again read the article, until then I won't be reading the rest of your post

therealgirl

Sully wrote: »

Typical media having a pop at the government and trying to divide the people over the public sector. This is a complete non story. Headlines and content written purely to sensationalise a non-story. Is this the best the media can do to show possible ‘waste’ of public tax payers money?

Your talking about €20 per person at a Christmas Function – a norm in both the public and private sector for decades. People on here claiming their employer doesn’t bring them out or they have to pay for it themselves. I remember this during the Celtic tiger – businesses didn’t give a red cent towards their staff to say “Thanks for all the hardwork, its appreciated”. The fact is that a lot of small, medium and large businesses DO in fact pay towards Christmas parties. Restaurants and Pubs rely massively on the income from staff parties such as these, especially during these hard economic times. This scope also includes public sector parties – although to a lesser degree or with much less funding.

This party would have had a large number of people on a low salary. Don’t immediately think it was high flying public sector workers raking it in with high wages and high expenses. These people at the party would have been people on the ground dealing with the public on a daily basis. I wouldn’t begrudge any person being paid a certain amount towards their Christmas party – public or private. Within reason of course. I think what was spent is a drop in the ocean and is hardly breaking the bank or a deal breaker towards budget cuts.

There is far bigger financial wastage in the public sector than a 5k Christmas Function for a few hundred staff members who have got themselves a job and work hard it.

This is a once-a year/once-off payment. Its not going to save child benefit, carers cuts and so on. Its a tiny amount. Very small. I'm all for efficient and proper use of tax payers money but this is nothing. Media having a field day as people get talking about those pesky civil servants and their entitlements - forgetting that its the norm across the private sector which is funded by those who pay for the products/services (ie citizens of Ireland).

Complete non story when we could be making headlines about our TDs expenses and how cuts to that could have saved the cut across social welfare. That's considerably higher than a pesky €20 a head function by the Dept. of Social Protection.

I think it's more the point of it looking bloody bad for them to be throwing parties at a time when they have made some silly budget decisions...decisions that have angered people...not the fact it came to €20 a head...they could at least look like they give a toss.

aujopimur

General Relativity wrote: »

The party cost 5 grand for ~250 people. Retired people. People who have paid more tax then you or I three or four times over. Get over it.

I paid tax and PRSI for 45 years, and I was'nt invited to the party.

Odysseus

aujopimur wrote: »

I paid tax and PRSI for 45 years, and I was'nt invited to the party.

Did you work there?

Madam_X

Rabble-rousing central. Bet the OP rubs their hands together with glee whenever non stories like this pop up in hateful rags like the Fail and the Spindo. They love it really.

therealgirl

Madam_X wrote: »

Rabble-rousing central. Bet the OP rubs their hands together with glee whenever non stories like this pop up in hateful rags like the Fail and the Spindo. They love it really.

Are you saying 5k wasn't actually spent on unnecessary parties?

Boombastic

Madam_X wrote: »

Rabble-rousing central. Bet the OP rubs their hands together with glee whenever non stories like this pop up in hateful rags like the Fail and the Spindo. They love it really.

Why is it an non-story? It is indicative of the culture that still exists within some government departments.

How many staff were taken from their regular duties to organise this party? There is a growing backlog in the department, but sure lots of time to plan parties. What is the purpose or benefit of this party?



I not sure how you know what I love?

melekalikimaka

work parties are needed these days, p.s. get an awful hard deal. a wee party that seems quite cheap imo, at christmas is more than acceptable us of my taxes

Max Power

melekalikimaka wrote: »

work parties are needed these days, p.s. get an awful hard deal. a wee party that seems quite cheap imo, at christmas is more than acceptable us of my taxes

Awww the poor PS, how do they manage to get by at all. They go whinging to their unions anytime the Croke Park Agreement is mentioned yet they're happy to take freebies from the very people they are whinging about. Fickleness at its best.

melekalikimaka

melekalikimaka wrote: »

work parties are needed these days, p.s. get an awful hard deal. a wee party that seems quite cheap imo, at christmas is more than acceptable us of my taxes

It was a party for retired staff.

People saying the small cost makes it acceptable forget that there may very well be 500 other parties across the various departments at a similiar cost each. While we are being told that costs must be curbed and people are suffering as a result the government should not be using tax payers money for such an unnecessary expense as staff parties

melekalikimaka

Deleted User wrote: »

It was a party for retired staff.

People saying the small cost makes it acceptable forget that there may very well be 500 other parties across the various departments at a similiar cost each. While we are being told that costs must be curbed and people are suffering as a result the government should not be using tax payers money for such an unnecessary expense as staff parties

good thing you dont dictate the budgets so, scrooge

Boombastic

melekalikimaka wrote: »

good thing you dont dictate the budgets so, scrooge

:pac::pac::pac::pac:

:rolleyes:

melekalikimaka

melekalikimaka wrote: »

good thing you dont dictate the budgets so, scrooge

Very few private companies pay for their staff Christmas party so why should the government pay for parties for those in it's departments.

Would be interesting to see how much is spent on staff parites in government departments this year. With the way the government hs gone after low income earners, carers, etc you would think that they would be saying "lets put a stop to this waste so we can at least look like we are doing our part".