Facing our reality - Cutting cars is symbolic but welcome

Thursday, March 17, 2011

THOUGH it is largely symbolic the decision to axe the great majority of the garda-driven state cars for cabinet members and former taoisigh is welcome.

It targets low-hanging fruit but it is a decision that reflects the reality of our times.

The move became almost unavoidable after the parade of ministerial limousines to a pre-Christmas meeting at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park rubbed salt into the wounds of a dispirited and angry public. That December day it seemed that those so central to our difficulties were still in clover, purring along as if nothing had changed. That particular danse macabre had more than a touch of let-them-eat-cake about it and did considerable damage to the reputation of our last government and the profession of politics.

It was no more than service as normal for our deposed political leaders but it created an impression that has lasted far longer than the substance of the day’s meeting. It proved, yet again, that in politics, perception is everything.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter says the decision will save €4 million but it might be prudent to wait until the full costs of alternative arrangements are revealed — as they must eventually be — before that figure can be deducted from the country’s housekeeping bill. The costs involved are considerable and usually entirely justified, but the new arrangements might be as costly as the old ones. However, they will not be as visible or as provocative in a bankrupt country. They will not cause a perception problem.

The decision to end the scheme brought to light other figures that illustrate another of the great dilemmas facing our country. Up to 50 garda drivers, working on a week-on-week-off basis earned, on average, €77,000 a year as state car drivers. Inevitably the hours could be long and very hard on families but €1,480 a week while working less than a week in two — when you include holiday entitlements — is not a bad deal. Any of the nearly 500,000 people unemployed — and a great number of those employed — in the country would jump at a job like that.

Though the circumstances are not the same each government department employs civilian driver or drivers to help junior ministers or to carry out other functions. These individuals are paid in the region of €30,000 a year. This is in stark contrast to what the garda drivers were paid.

This theme recurred in other figures published by the Central Statistics Office this week which showed that public sector workers earn, on average, 46% more than private sector workers. The gap is even greater if pension entitlements and security are brought into the equation. Not only do Irish public sector workers enjoy an advantage over private sector co-citizens they are far better paid than their European counterparts too.

If we are to restore sanity and a degree of social equity to how we use the public purse to run the country it seems that a lot more than state cars will have to come under the microscope. It may not be as we might wish but what we are doing now just doesn’t add up.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, March 17, 2011