Garda Sergeant can't afford food

Wacker The Attacker · 17-10-2012 10:33am

Dunkin Donuts probably see more of his weekly salary that his bank do.

MagicSean · 17-10-2012 10:35am

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

Dunkin Donuts probably see more of his weekly salary that his bank do.

This is an Irish forum. You appear to be stuck in the US. It was established in last weeks Garda bashing thread that Gardaí eat nothing but free coffee and sandwiches from the petrol stations. Try to keep up.

Emeraldy Pebbles · 17-10-2012 10:35am

MagicMarker wrote: »

Their mortgage isn't even that much!!

My thoughts exactly! Looking to rent a one-bedroom place in Dublin with my BF in the new year. Anything decent is at least 900 per month. They get a four-bed place for 1400/month. Not too shabby!

Death and Taxes · 17-10-2012 10:36am

Another "we are emergency services" we should be paid enormous saleries so we can keep our tiger lifestyle stories! Sickening.

K-9 · 17-10-2012 10:37am

MagicSean wrote: »

The 65k includes all allowances and I presume overtime too. After the pension levy that leaves 60k. After taxes that leaves about 36k, which is about 3000 per month. Less the mortgage that's 1600k per month. Electricity and gas for a family of four about 250 a month. That's 1150 he now takes in per month or just under 300 per week. Another factor to consider is that newly promoted sergeants are often sent to stations far away so travel costs would be high. He's probably looking at fuel costs of up to 80 a week. Which leaves 200 a week for all the other household bills and costs. Take away the cost of medical aid which is a necessity in his line of work and he is bringing in less money per week than he would be on the dole.

It's not really hard to see where the money goes to be honest.

I'm getting 43k here, mortgage of 17k still leaves 26k or 500 a week. I suppose if they've high travel and bills €100 a week to live on is very possible.

bamboozle · 17-10-2012 10:37am

MagicSean wrote: »

Mortgage relief is deducted at source. That means it happens before the figure of 1400.

Overtime? Very few sergeants see a lick of overtime. You may be right in relation to private debt. But even if you assume 200 per week in private debt you still have a deficit of 100 per week.

Incorrect, it depends on the bank.

as things stand the article says they've income of 65k, but fails to mention Overtime, Mortgage Interest Relief and Childrens allowances.

As i said earlier, if their oldest kid is college going age they had plenty of opportunities to save or buy a house before 2007 so it is pretty clear to me they are living far far far beyond their means if net income of circa €4200 turns into a €1200 deficit each month...so their monthly costs are over 5000PM...after mortgage that 3600 they're spending on stuff other than food...its a lot of electricity, diesel...a lot of bullsh1t if you ask me.

If fuel costs are so high why dont they rent out their house they cant afford, move closer to his station & rent a cheaper house. save on diesel & mortgage.

Wacker The Attacker · 17-10-2012 10:38am

MagicSean wrote: »

This is an Irish forum. You appear to be stuck in the US. It was established in last weeks Garda bashing thread that Gardaí eat nothing but free coffee and sandwiches from the petrol stations. Try to keep up.

who woke up with a hard on this morning

Mellio · 17-10-2012 10:38am

I heard this on the tv this morning and couldnt beleive they were giving it any ounce of sympathy just like the mortgage debt reduction for those that can't afford(tic, say they cant afford)excluding those who lost jobs, well let me tell you I cant afford my mortgage right now as probably like this seargeant I have a €1300 a month mortgage, Child Care at 400 month for 3 half days, Bills,Shopping, Credit Card and Loan.

you know what it is the CC and Loan thats killing me this is life right now for a lot of people, what makes this gaurd any different to the rest of us, is he looking for mortgage debt releif, if so we all should be getting it not a select few.

By the way 2 of us working and earning more than €10K less if he is on at 65K a year and over 20K if he is on 75K a year.

My wife manages to put food on our table every day of the week whether it be a coddle or a sunday lunch its manageable, you need to learn to budget and manage your money better, get a grip.

Like someone said above, food is first from everyones pay then the mortgage then the utilitites, give over the sob stories.

12vdc · 17-10-2012 10:39am

WileyCoyote wrote: »

Another "we are emergency services" we should be paid enormous saleries so we can keep our tiger lifestyle stories! Sickening.

Ur right !

angelfire9 · 17-10-2012 10:41am

My husband is a member of Garda rank and if we lived off his salary we would be on the breadline
FACT

I have no trouble believing the €109 a week figure ours is about €130
Thank feck i earn enough through self employment to put proper food on the table though there is a bill missed every month in this house we have to rotate them

When our kids are of college going age they are going to have to take out loans because there is no way we can afford the fees unless things drastically change and soon

JohnMarston · 17-10-2012 10:43am

Why cant the wife get a job too? A second source of income would solve their problem

Menas · 17-10-2012 10:44am

I dont get it either - the numbers do not add up!

Salary - after tax = +3700 pm
Childrens allowance (3 kids under 18) = +422.
Morgage tax credit (assuming you get this on a 7 year old house?) = +140

I dont see where all their money goes. If she is not working then there should not be a kid in creche. I presume that MABS would not see private health insurance as essential.
I am guessing two cars but both drivers likely to be in their 50s so the insurance can not be too expensive unless they have decided that having a 17/18 year old on the insurance is essential.
Mobile phone/refuse/gas/electric/sky/broadband could not be more than €400 per month if they are trying to conserve. I belive mabs will allow sky/broadband in their assessment.

The bottom line is that we are clearly missing some detail here. The infromation offered tells us that they should be able to comfortably survive. Perhaps no big holidays, but there would be food on the table. So as said earlier, there must be debt on top of the mortgage.

Fishooks12 · 17-10-2012 10:45am

WileyCoyote wrote: »

Another "we are emergency services" we should be paid enormous saleries so we can keep our tiger lifestyle stories! Sickening.

No it's not. It's one Guard.

But try and get your pathetic Garda bash in anyway

angelfire9 · 17-10-2012 10:45am

JohnMarston wrote: »

Why cant the wife get a job too? A second source of income would solve their problem

If i had to pay for childcare i wouldn't be able to afford to work
My eldest is in school but my youngest is minded by my mother

Its not so simple as trotting out the door to work every morning you know!

MagicSean · 17-10-2012 10:46am

K-9 wrote: »

I'm getting 43k here, mortgage of 17k still leaves 26k or 500 a week. I suppose if they've high travel and bills €100 a week to live on is very possible.

It's not suitable for calculating a Gardas wage. Here's my own calculations.

Gross pay €47,314.95
Rent allowance €4,113.75
Boot allowance €123.04
Uniform allowance €226.00
Saturday allowance €538.46
Sunday allowance €4,367.53
Evening allowance €554.82
Night allowance €5,392.84
Total Income €62,631.39

Pension levy 5% 15001 -20,000 €250.00
Pension levy 10% up to 60k €4,000.00
Pension levy 10.5% on over 60k €276.30
Total pension levy €4,526.30

Taxable Income €58,105.09

PRSI (4% over 6,604) €2,060.04
USC 2% on €10,036 €200.72
USC 4% up to €16,016 €239.20
USC 7% over €16,016 €2,946.24
PAYE 20% €6,560.00
PAYE 41% €7,075.09
Pension contribution 5% €2,905.25
Basic Deductions €21,986.54

Net pay after basic deductions €36,118.55

Rascasse · 17-10-2012 10:47am

A repair man arrives and gives an estimate of €100 to fix the dishwasher. Later, sitting in the unheated house, she says her parents, a couple on “ordinary pensions”, will probably pay for the dishwasher and the college fees.

Dishwasher? Feck me, talk about getting your priorities right. Do yourself a favour and buy some sponges and washing up liquid. Saves your elderly parents €100 and saves you electric.

Garda overtime is not available anymore, they say, and the allowances are under threat. They know that the €77.06 weekly rent allowance (designed to cover the cost of gardaí being obliged to live away from their home area), will probably be a target of the cuts.

And here is the nub of the issue. The budget is in what 6 weeks? No doubt the profile this has got has had nothing to do with their representative bodies pushing the issue at this precise moment.

wendydoll · 17-10-2012 10:48am

We simply don't know what luxuries and necessities are anymore.

I remember that report on RTE news during the summer, stating people had €100 or less after paying essential bills are paid and it cut to women paying €96 for sky, €65 for her mobile and €90 for her landline and whinging about surviving off little money

Since when did sky, mobile and landline bills become "essential" bills :mad:

El Weirdo · 17-10-2012 10:49am

Precious flower wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1017/1224325338822.html?via=rel

I find it hard to believe that a Mabs adviser would simply lie about their financial state, so I guess they really are in trouble.

Except we only have the woman's word that that is what MABS have advised.

Story has bullshit all over it - the same as that guy from Kerry that was feeding his family cardboard last year.

Wacker The Attacker · 17-10-2012 10:51am

wendydoll wrote: »

We simply don't know what luxuries and necessities are anymore.

I remember that report on RTE news during the summer, stating people had €100 or less after paying essential bills are paid and it cut to women paying €96 for sky, €65 for her mobile and €90 for her landline and whinging about surviving off little money

Since when did sky, mobile and landline bills become "essential" bills :mad:

A mortgage isnt essential.

They could rent for less than they are currently paying

jackal · 17-10-2012 10:52am

The key quote is this:

The picture painted by the Mabs adviser is not quite as cheerful. She calculated the family’s net pay and child benefit total at €807.37. After totting up the mortgage payment and items such as fuel, food, clothing and footwear, education/medical/ transport, bin charges etc, she saw no way of getting their outgoings below €1,100 a week.

The mortgage payment is €350 per week, yet they are spending €1,100 per week according to MABS. So where is the €750 per week going? It cannot be "fuel, food, clothing and footwear, education/medical/ transport, bin charges".

Is there a "buy to let" that we are not being told about? There is definitely something missing from the picture.

angelfire9 · 17-10-2012 10:57am

MagicSean wrote: »

It's not suitable for calculating a Gardas wage. Here's my own calculations.

Gross pay €47,314.95
Rent allowance €4,113.75
Boot allowance €123.04
Uniform allowance €226.00
Saturday allowance €538.46
Sunday allowance €4,367.53
Evening allowance €554.82
Night allowance €5,392.84
Total Income €62,631.39

Pension levy 5% 15001 -20,000 €250.00
Pension levy 10% up to 60k €4,000.00
Pension levy 10.5% on over 60k €276.30
Total pension levy €4,526.30

Taxable Income €58,105.09

PRSI (4% over 6,604) €2,060.04
USC 2% on €10,036 €200.72
USC 4% up to €16,016 €239.20
USC 7% over €16,016 €2,946.24
PAYE 20% €6,560.00
PAYE 41% €7,075.09
Pension contribution 5% €2,905.25
Basic Deductions €21,986.54

Net pay after basic deductions €36,118.55

Now take that as a weekly figure of €694.58 because gardai get payed weekly
Mortgage €323 a week
Net pay is now down to €371 per week
Medical Aid (which is not optional) 62.38 a week
Net pay now down to €309 or €1236 a month

Lets look at the Utility Bills
Mobile probably 30 quid a month (and thats being cheap) and yes a mobile is required for work
Eircom for broadband and house phone (The kids will want the internet for studying) 40 quid a month
Electricity 50 quid a month seem reasonable??
Gas or Home Heating lets allow another 50 quid a month
insurances (lets allow 400 a year for the car and 400 a year for the house being generous) say €70 a month (rounding up)

So that is bills of €240 a month
Leaving the family with €996 a month or 249 a week
petrol probably costs him 60 quid a week leaving him with 189

Not too far off the figure MABS looked at
And i haven't included a sky subscription
Or Bin Charges
Or the Household tax
And i've underestimated most of the bills

pickarooney · 17-10-2012 11:00am

So how come everyone earning less than 30 grand a year isn't dead?

El Weirdo · 17-10-2012 11:01am

angelfire9 wrote: »

Now take that as a weekly figure of €694.58 because gardai get payed weekly
Mortgage €323 a week
Net pay is now down to €371 per week
Medical Aid (which is not optional) 62.38 a week
Net pay now down to €309 or €1236 a month

Lets look at the Utility Bills
Mobile probably 30 quid a month (and thats being cheap) and yes a mobile is required for work
Eircom for broadband and house phone (The kids will want the internet for studying) 40 quid a month
Electricity 50 quid a month seem reasonable??
Gas or Home Heating lets allow another 50 quid a month
insurances (lets allow 400 a year for the car and 400 a year for the house being generous) say €70 a month (rounding up)

So that is bills of €240 a month
Leaving the family with €996 a month or 249 a week
petrol probably costs him 60 quid a week leaving him with 189

Not too far off the figure MABS looked at

Add the children's allowance for 3/4 kids (depending if the eldest is still in FTE) onto that.

bamboozle · 17-10-2012 11:02am

angelfire9 wrote: »

Now take that as a weekly figure of €694.58 because gardai get payed weekly
Mortgage €323 a week
Net pay is now down to €371 per week
Medical Aid (which is not optional) 62.38 a week
Net pay now down to €309 or €1236 a month

Lets look at the Utility Bills
Mobile probably 30 quid a month (and thats being cheap) and yes a mobile is required for work
Eircom for broadband and house phone (The kids will want the internet for studying) 40 quid a month
Electricity 50 quid a month seem reasonable??
Gas or Home Heating lets allow another 50 quid a month
insurances (lets allow 400 a year for the car and 400 a year for the house being generous) say €70 a month (rounding up)

So that is bills of €240 a month
Leaving the family with €996 a month or 249 a week
petrol probably costs him 60 quid a week leaving him with 189

Not too far off the figure MABS looked at

you conveniently forgot mortgage interest relief 140 a month, children's allowance 422 a month that's an extra 165 to add to your 189 a week, leaving 354 a week to feed a family of 5.

Boohoo.

Forest Demon · 17-10-2012 11:03am

The problem with this is the kind of bull**** story that casts doubt on genuine people struggling.

The only way they are struggling based on the figures shown even taking the mortgage into account is that they have a lot of private debt. If it is credit card, personal loans and car loans that are causing the issue then they need to sell some stuff and live within their means. The salary is not the issue. Its not the issue that they cannot live on a Garda salary.

The headline of "Garda borrowed too much and cannot live with debt" does not have the same ring to it.

What do they want? a rise to pay for more extravagance? Without a load of private debt the story does not make sense.

The salary is not the problem.

Heroditas · 17-10-2012 11:05am

Also conveniently forgotten is the wife's tax credits which the husband would benefit from.

wendydoll · 17-10-2012 11:05am

angelfire9 wrote: »

Eircom for broadband and house phone (The kids will want the internet for studying) 40 quid a month

Sorry now but kids will want the internet for study. Most of us here grew up without the internet and we all turned out ok. Easy come, easy go.

It would be nice to have the internet but I'd rather my kids have proper food in their bellies rather than access to the internet to "study/ facebook"

MagicSean · 17-10-2012 11:06am

bamboozle wrote: »

you conveniently forgot mortgage interest relief 140 a month, children's allowance 422 a month that's an extra 165 to add to your 189 a week, leaving 354 a week to feed a family of 5.

Boohoo.

My mortgage is for 270k. I am on a low enough interest rate. Relief is deducted at source, It costs 1100 per month. 1400 is very likely to be the rate after relief is deducted for someone who bought in 2005.

Milk & Honey · 17-10-2012 11:06am

hawkelady wrote: »

Afaik .... Guards are paid weekly.

Guards are paid weekly AND monthly. Basic pay is paid weekly and every month the additional allowances are paid.

El Weirdo · 17-10-2012 11:07am

bamboozle wrote: »

you conveniently forgot mortgage interest relief 140 a month, children's allowance 422 a month that's an extra 165 to add to your 189 a week, leaving 354 a week to feed a family of 5.

Boohoo.

To be fair, they might not qualify for Mortgage TRS any longer as they did buy the house 7 years ago.

Still. Anyone that can't feed a family of 6 on ~300 quid per week is doing something drastically wrong. Many families survive on less.

Fishooks12 · 17-10-2012 11:08am

wendydoll wrote: »

Sorry now but kids will want the internet for study. Most of us here grew up without the internet and we all turned out ok. Easy come, easy go.

It would be nice to have the internet but I'd rather my kids have proper food in their bellies rather than access to the internet to "study/ facebook"

The internet is pretty crucial to education these days

Completely pathetic insinuation that the children would just use it for facebook too btw

PaulKK · 17-10-2012 11:09am

bamboozle wrote: »

you conveniently forgot mortgage interest relief 140 a month, children's allowance 422 a month that's an extra 165 to add to your 189 a week, leaving 354 a week to feed a family of 5.

Boohoo.

Mortgage interest relief lasts 7 years so that would be finished.

There's also car tax and servicing, tv licence, tv subscription, kids school books, possibly management fees, bin charges etc to pay too.

Not saying its right or anything, but you could easily see how they would have 109 left for food per week.

Gumbo · 17-10-2012 11:10am

K-9 wrote: »

I'm getting 43k here, mortgage of 17k still leaves 26k or 500 a week. I suppose if they've high travel and bills €100 a week to live on is very possible.

That incorrectly estimates my pay!
Dont think it works, or i may be doing something completely wrong!

Heroditas · 17-10-2012 11:10am

Which "prestigious" university are the parents talking about?
It must be somewhere like Yale or Harvard because we don't have any prestigious universities in this country

Milk & Honey · 17-10-2012 11:11am

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

A mortgage isnt essential.

They could rent for less than they are currently paying

Quite likely they are in negative equity (they bought in 2005) so can't sell and move.

the groutch · 17-10-2012 11:13am

it's a case of either being hidden debt we're not being told about, or they're still living like it's 2005, and have been effectively burying their heads in the sand for the last 4 years.

Father Damo · 17-10-2012 11:17am

The article seems to hint this as recession related.

If anything this Garda was almost certainly on a lower wage seven years ago when he bought the house than he is now

This family is likely taking in more per year than it was in the boom years when they bought the house!

I smell a rat.

K-9 · 17-10-2012 11:17am

kceire wrote: »

That incorrectly estimates my pay!
Dont think it works, or i may be doing something completely wrong!

Seems to leave out the old pension deduction.

ted1 · 17-10-2012 11:18am

IT says i get more than i get.

must look into it.

telecaster · 17-10-2012 11:19am

pickarooney wrote: »

So how come everyone earning less than 30 grand a year isn't dead?

Its a good question.

Closest to a reasonable answer I can come up with is that someone earning that figure wouldnt have been given a mortgage that required repayments of Eur1,400 per month.

The other bills are uniform though (pun sort of intended)

Tombo2001 · 17-10-2012 11:20am

One thing that really gets on my goat is the constant reference to the gross salary of €65k. Obviously people in the private sector have no understanding of the scale of deductions from public service salaries, over and above private sector salaries.

But to put in simple terms, the net take home pay for a public servant on that salary is €37,500.

This is identical to the net take home pay that a private sector employee on €54,000 would receive.

Now I know only too well that a large part of the contribution is for the pension. But the pension has nothing to with their cost of living today.

The fact of the matter is that the pension deduction is very large, and unlike the private sector it is not tax deductible, and unlike the private sector it is non-discretionary.

In this case, the family is paying €17,000 a year on mortgage.

That leaves them €20,000 a year to live on. That is not a lot in this country.

It might seem like a lot if you are single and its pure disposable income.

But when you are trying to raise a family, it is not a lot.

And when they try to raise the point that they are struggling, which they are, they get sneered at large scale by people who wont even examine the facts.

Irishcrx · 17-10-2012 11:22am

65k a year and moaning?? Give me a break , now where did I put that Violin...

A person on the dole earns at €180 a week earns €8,640 year and may still have to try support a mortgage and family. Seriously f**k off Mr.Sergent.

Real Life · 17-10-2012 11:22am

pretty ridiculous, my father makes just over 20,000 a year to provide for a family. luckily i work now too so he doesn't have to worry about me anymore.
I don't know how anyone can complain about 65,000 a year.

Where To · 17-10-2012 11:25am

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that really gets on my goat is the constant reference to the gross salary of €65k. Obviously people in the private sector have no understanding of the scale of deductions from public service salaries, over and above private sector salaries.

But to put in simple terms, the net take home pay for a public servant on that salary is €37,500.

This is identical to the net take home pay that a private sector employee on €54,000 would receive.

Now I know only too well that a large part of the contribution is for the pension. But the pension has nothing to with their cost of living today.

The fact of the matter is that the pension deduction is very large, and unlike the private sector it is not tax deductible, and unlike the private sector it is non-discretionary.

In this case, the family is paying €17,000 a year on mortgage.

That leaves them €20,000 a year to live on. That is not a lot in this country.

It might seem like a lot if you are single and its pure disposable income.

But when you are trying to raise a family, it is not a lot.

And when they try to raise the point that they are struggling, which they are, they get sneered at large scale by people who wont even examine the facts.

Why should we have any sympathy for someone just because they are incapable of properly managing their personal finances?

€37000 is a good sum to live on.

strandroad · 17-10-2012 11:26am

Tombo2001 wrote: »

That leaves them €20,000 a year to live on. That is not a lot in this country.

Now add 10k overtime and multiple child allowance they say they get.
And still they are -300 a week? There must be either additional debt or living beyond their means - two or three cars, private schooling etc.

I don't understand what the garda's wife wants to achieve here anyway. Does she want her husband's salary to be hiked to cover their badly planned expenses when the figures don't add up? Or perhaps their mortgage to be wiped, while of course keeping the house?
Why won't she look for part-time work? If they finished expanding their family seven years ago, all children are well into their school years now. How can she leave the work option out completely and watch her children eating cornflakes for meals, as she claims?

Something doesn't add up here; the family are probably just a sob story to illustrate how people came to rely on PS allowances, child allowance etc as their income.

Tombo2001 · 17-10-2012 11:26am

Irishcrx wrote: »

65k a year and moaning?? Give me a break , now where did I put that Violin...

A person on the dole earns at €180 a week earns €8,640 year and may still have to try support a mortgage and family. Seriously f**k off Mr.Sergent.

Exactly the misanalysis I was talking about.

Apples and oranges.

Comparing Gross Pay to Net Pay.

A person on the dole has their rent paid. A person on the dole has childrens allowance. A person on the dole has a medical card.

This persons net disposable income would fall by about €5000 if they quit their job and signed on the dole. And in exchange for that he could sit at home and hang out with the kids, instead of doing what I would imagine is a bloody tough job. if I was in his position, I'd be taking that trade.

Milk & Honey · 17-10-2012 11:26am

Irishcrx wrote: »

65k a year and moaning?? Give me a break , now where did I put that Violin...

A person on the dole earns at €180 a week earns €8,640 year and may still have to try support a mortgage and family. Seriously f**k off Mr.Sergent.

A person on the dole does not earn anything? They are given money. There are additional payments for dependants adult or child and additional assistance for housing. If there is a mortgage most of their interest will be paid.

Tombo2001 · 17-10-2012 11:27am

mhge wrote: »

Now add 10k overtime and multiple child allowance they say they get.
And still they are -300 a week? There must be either additional debt or living beyond their means - two or three cars, private schooling etc.

I don't understand what the garda's wife wants to achieve here anyway. Does she want her husband's salary to be hiked to cover their badly planned expenses when the figures don't add up? Or perhaps their mortgage to be wiped, while of course keeping the house?
Why won't she look for part-time work? If they finished expanding their family seven years ago, all children are well into their school years now. How can she leave the work option out completely and watch her children eating cornflakes for meals, as she claims?

Something doesn't add up here; the family are probably just a sob story to illustrate how people came to rely on PS allowances, child allowance etc as their income.

Where'd you come up with 10k overtime.....why not just make it 100k if you are going to make up figures.

fits · 17-10-2012 11:27am

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that really gets on my goat is the constant reference to the gross salary of €65k. Obviously people in the private sector have no understanding of the scale of deductions from public service salaries, over and above private sector salaries.

But to put in simple terms, the net take home pay for a public servant on that salary is €37,500.

This is identical to the net take home pay that a private sector employee on €54,000 would receive.

Now I know only too well that a large part of the contribution is for the pension. But the pension has nothing to with their cost of living today.

The fact of the matter is that the pension deduction is very large, and unlike the private sector it is not tax deductible, and unlike the private sector it is non-discretionary.

In this case, the family is paying €17,000 a year on mortgage.

That leaves them €20,000 a year to live on. That is not a lot in this country.

It might seem like a lot if you are single and its pure disposable income.

But when you are trying to raise a family, it is not a lot.

And when they try to raise the point that they are struggling, which they are, they get sneered at large scale by people who wont even examine the facts.

Hear hear, I am pretty disgusted with some of the attitudes on this thread.

65k in public sector ( not equivalent to private) to run a family and service a mortgage is not a lot.

Rascasse · 17-10-2012 11:27am

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that really gets on my goat is the constant reference to the gross salary of €65k. Obviously people in the private sector have no understanding of the scale of deductions from public service salaries, over and above private sector salaries.

But to put in simple terms, the net take home pay for a public servant on that salary is €37,500.

This is identical to the net take home pay that a private sector employee on €54,000 would receive.

Now I know only too well that a large part of the contribution is for the pension. But the pension has nothing to with their cost of living today.

The fact of the matter is that the pension deduction is very large, and unlike the private sector it is not tax deductible, and unlike the private sector it is non-discretionary.

In this case, the family is paying €17,000 a year on mortgage.

That leaves them €20,000 a year to live on. That is not a lot in this country.

It might seem like a lot if you are single and its pure disposable income.

But when you are trying to raise a family, it is not a lot.

And when they try to raise the point that they are struggling, which they are, they get sneered at large scale by people who wont even examine the facts.

Yes the public sector pension deductions may be higher, but his actual salary is €51,084 not the €75k he ends up with. Some nice public sector allowances there.

Garda Sergeant can't afford food

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