The Government is facing a choice between contentious education cuts and a wider public sector pay freeze, writes Sarah Carey
ALONG WITH 60 per cent of people, I didn't vote for this Government in last year's election and I was pretty angry about the result.
These days being angry is pointless. We're sinking fast and it doesn't matter if I'm a press-ganged galley slave or a first-class passenger; I've a keen interest in this boat staying afloat. The officers are frightening me, though. I can ignore bad news about the IMF moving into Hungary or stock exchange disasters in Asia. I can't ignore a Government that looks unsure about yesterday's decisions and terrified of tomorrow's.
Ice-queen Mary Hanafin is stumbling over her carefully rehearsed lines. Tánaiste Mary Coughlan's bob exposes a jaw getting closer to the floor each day. Even the normally affable Brian Lenihan is getting crabby. His brother Conor put in an assured performance on Radio One's This Week programme on Sunday and I found myself feeling relieved. Why? Because we need these people to get it together and fast. The question is: can they?
I'm looking for a Shirtsleeves Moment. During last year's general election you might recall that Fianna Fáil's campaign began very badly. They looked out of control and electoral meltdown was being discussed.
Then one Sunday, Brian Cowen, Dermot Ahern and Micheál Martin gave a press conference in their shirtsleeves. They had been slapped around and weren't taking it any more. They tore the opposition policies to shreds. They kicked the media up and down the room. I winced watching them and when they were finished I knew it was all over. Cowen dominated the radio and television the next day - impatient and angry. The voters got the message and turned out to give first preferences in their tens of thousands to Fianna Fáil. The Shirtsleeves did it.
Does that instinct for self-preservation apply to the country or just to winning elections? They could do it to save their own skins. Can they do it to save ours? Let's hope so. First, they need to get over that Sunday Business Post poll. It's meaningless. While a party whose core principle is populism can't be comfortable with unpopularity, there is no election and won't be for some time. Joe Behan was an anomaly; Finian McGrath is an attention-seeker who just lost his leverage and the Greens aren't going anywhere. This Government will stick, poll or no poll.
They got over the medical card crisis and since farmers are hated by the press, they'll be easy enough to face down. However, the education cuts are deeply petty, make for great sob stories in the media and don't even save that much money. Forget about this march today: if principals start sending pupils home because there's no substitute teacher available, it'll create a crisis no one needs.
It must be possible to save money in less contentious areas and for that the Taoiseach is going to have to do something that goes against every bullying bone in his body: listen to Richard Bruton.
Cowen is unable to conceal his contempt for Fine Gael but he needs to swallow his bile and listen up. Some Fianna Fáilers have suggested that the Opposition should repeat the Tallaght Strategy and listen to the Government. Is it beyond all conception that the Government listen to the Opposition? Probably. But let's think about it here anyway.
The pay rises due to the public sector each year under the infamous 2002 benchmarking deal costs us €1.5 billion annually. Bruton has proposed a pay freeze for those on annual salaries over €50,000. It would save an estimated €260 million. Scrapping aid for books to pupils in disadvantaged schools costs about €5 million. Which cut is easier to defend? Which cut achieves more? Which cut strikes terror into the heart of a Cabinet used to whipping out the cheque book and asking Jack O'Connor "How much?"
Yes, the unions would go ballistic if the pay freeze was implemented. Let them. Private sector workers aren't organised. They don't get a spot on radio shows, but trust me, people in the private sector are already furious. They took the 1 per cent and 2 per cent levy on the chin, but they are gunning for the public sector. Benchmarking was meant to achieve parity for public workers with private workers. If the public sector believes in parity, show them what a P45 looks like. A pay freeze in a guaranteed job seems pretty cushy when you're not sure if you'll have a job in six months.
Teachers and parents are on the streets today over the cuts affecting pupils. If teachers took to the streets to protect an automatic pay rise for those earning over €50,000, they'd be on their own. As they also take to the airwaves, can someone ask them if there's a morally acceptable argument that putting 35 pupils into a primary school class is better than denying a permanent, pensionable worker on a high salary an automatic increase? I'd like to hear the answer to that.
Yesterday a Government spokesperson said: "Nothing can be allowed to deflect the Government from meeting its responsibility to implement the necessary actions to secure and defend the economy . . ."
That was a lie of course. The poorest pupils at the greatest disadvantage are nothing. Public sector unions are everything and, yes, they'll sink this ship, because they're the only ones with lifeboats instead . . .