A chara, – Your editorial "Public service pay: pension nettle must be grasped" (April 26th) claims that benchmarking increases "were a critical factor in bringing the economy to its knees during the financial crisis".
For the record, the total pay rise awarded to public sector workers over the two rounds of benchmarking (2002 and 2007) averaged at just 8.9 per cent.
A combination of multiple pay cuts and levies has more than obliterated this.
In fact, the 2007 report of the benchmarking body awarded public servants no increase whatsoever as “a discount of 12 per cent was applied for pension entitlements”.
In other words, because of the benchmarking process, public service workers had to forego the possibility of a significant pay increase in recognition of the cost of their pensions to their employer. – Is mise,
KEVIN P McCARTHY,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.