Garda Sergeant can't afford food

A few points are worth repeating about the article and the background to its publication. My first duty was to protect the family’s anonymity, so significant details such as the number of children were withheld. Verification of the garda’s weekly income was available in the form of his payslip and we had permission to publish it in its original form, with name and identifying details redacted. A view was taken by senior editors, however, that certain other details might have identified the payee so this too was withheld.

The family has been characterised by some as foolishly clinging to “middle-class” fixations, such as private health insurance. The wife has explained that her husband is over 50 and in stressful work. They do not smoke or socialise. She is acutely aware that buying a house at the height of the property boom was a poor decision in hindsight. As other have argued here, they are hardly exceptional in that.
The payslip and the Mabs analysis of weekly expenditure confirm that there is no financial “black hole”. There have been efforts to supplement their income.

The point of the article was not to defend the past or present choices of any individual but to provide an insight into how the timing of that decision to buy a home and the cuts in public service pay and overtime have affected one middle-income public servant’s family. Contrary to some of the comment here, I have often written in the past about the difficulty of persuading such people to give interviews. The harshness of some of the criticism directed at this family explains why perhaps.

I accept that the figures could have been better explained in the original article. The next post will provides further details from the Mabs analysis.

To clarify : the garda sergeant earned 75,000 gross LAST year, including allowances and considerable overtime. That was clearly an exceptional year.

Now, the family’s total weekly income, including child benefit, is e807 net, according to Mabs (the Money Advice and Budgeting Service). The following is its projected weekly expenditure, according to a schedule prepared by the same agency :

Mortgage (interest only): 280.00
Mortgage Protection Insurance 15,00
Buildings/Contents Insurance 7.00
Food/Housekeeping 200,00
Electricity Usage 25.00
Heat/Fuel Usage 25.00
TV licence 4.00
Waste Charges 5.00
Telephone/Other utilities 43.00
Transports costs 127.50
Educational costs (college registration fees, children’s uniforms) 75.00
Clothing/Footwear 60.00
Medical costs (insurance) 73.23
Repairs & Maintenance 20.00
Other Expenditure 84.00
Credit Union 50.00

Total 1,093.73

Not included are weekly pension-related contributions of around e80.

Lemming wrote: »

All monthly figures multiplied by twelve.

The only red flag that I can really accept is that anyone paying €13k+ on an interest only mortgage is neck deep regardless of anything else.

tayto lover wrote: »

About 10 years ago when my mortgage was nearly paid off the E.B.S. wrote to me offering me a huge top-up, car loan or loan for holiday home if I wanted it. Thank God i was happy with what I had. Stuck to my means.

fits wrote: »

I'm pretty delighted I never had the money to get a mortgage in the first place. That would have been a world of disaster... *relief*