How to cut $6 billion off the Irish deficit by reducing public sector wages

12 steps to reduce the Irish public deficit

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MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

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Total savings $22m (€16m)

6. Abolish all quangos

The estimated cost of the 95 agencies  for 2010 alone is $7, 2367m (€5,174.3m). The larger spending agencies are responsible for distributing grants to fund colleges and universities etc, so they would still require funding if all agencies were abolished. However after extracting all the funding/grants from the cost of agencies the Government would still stand to save $1.2billion (€926.5m) from abolishing quangos.

Total savings $1.2billion (€926.5m)

7. Slash the salaries of all secretaries-general to $209,000 (€150,000)

There are currently 18 secretaries-general or heads of department. Salaries range from $263, 831 (€188,640) to the overall head who earns $307,000 (€220,000). If all salaries were capped at $209,000 (€150,000) there could be an annual saving of  greater than $1m ($0.75m)

Total savings $1m ($0.75m)

8. Cut senior public servant salaries to $139,000 (€100,000)

There are currently 277,500 public servants in Ireland. Over 11,000 of these are paid in excess of $139,000 (€100,000). Capping all public servants' salaries could generate savings of  almost $700m (€488.4m).

Total savings $683m (€488.4m).

9. Cut average public sector wage to average wage of all workers

According to the Central Statistics Office latest statistics the average weekly earnings for an Irish worker is $965.70 (€690.48) in comparison to $1265.43 (€904.79) for public sector workers. Cutting the public sector pay bill by reducing average earnings of civil servants would equate to savings of over $3.5 billion (€2.521bn).

Total savings $3.5 billion (€2.521bn)

10. Cut public service pension bill by 10 percent

The public service pension bill for this year stands at $3bn (€2.2bn). Cutting the current expenditure by a mere 10 percent will could save the Government $307m (€220m).

Total savings $307m (€220m)

11. Abolish pensions to to all former Presidents, Judges and Ministers

Last years total pensions paid to former presidents, taoisigh, judges and ministers was $15.2 (€11.1m).  Many of these people are still working in lucrative positions while they earn sizable salaries as well as their generous pensions from the state.

Total savings $15.2 (€11.1m)

12. Abolish consultancy costs

This year  the government will spend  $74m (€53m) on private consultancy costs not including the $43m (€31m) they have allocated for advice on the banking crisis alone.

Total saving $117m (€84m)

Over potential savings $5.349 bn-$6.033 (€3.825bn–€4.314bn)

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