Pay rises for the politicians
Madam, - The Taoiseach should hang his head in shame for allowing generous pay increases to Ministers and politicians in a week that also saw big rises in the cost of electricity for ordinary people.
For the politicians, the pay increases will more than adequately offset the rise in electricity prices. But the poor and those on average incomes have no such cushion.
While the ordinary people of Limerick are struggling to pay their bills those who govern them will be drawing pay and expenses of over a quarter-of-a-million euro a year. This is obscene money for any person and it is a scandal that the politicians have voted this rise through for themselves without any concern for the ordinary people who are unable to pay basic bills.
This is a scandal that can only fuel social and political discontent in this area, where people are being alienated from the mainstream of society. - Yours, etc,
MICK RYAN, Shanabooley Road, Ballynanty, Limerick.