STRIKES ACROSS IRELAND have closed the Rock of Cashel today. Irish trade unions have slipped into a rut of unwarranted industrial action instead of engaging with the Irish government about actions they could take to ensure more efficient government spending. Failure to curb Ireland's excessive borrowing will only result in the country losing its economic independence. This does not seem to bother union leaders who want to extend the period of Ireland's borrowings well into the next decade. Doing that will ensure my daughter pays back my salary through taxes on her wages when she leaves college. That's not the kind of gift I want to leave behind. I also despise the divide that union-dominated work practises are creating in my workplace along with the fracture the unions have fostered between the public setor and the private sector. It's not "partnership" in any sense of the word. It's acting the maggot, plain and simple. Union leadership should be knocking on the Minister for Finance's door--or sitting in the back of the government Mercedes for private chats--and lay out a short sheet of things worth cutting. Let's front up the government and cut ministerial drivers. That will pay for primary school construction programmes. Let the public service union keep the issue of ministerial pensions paid before the age of 65 a hot topic. Nobody thinks it's prudent for a country with the population the size of Philadelphia to continue paying for largesse.
Higher taxes are coming. So is lower spending. Those two hand-in-hand strategies are the only way that Ireland can stumble out of a construction-fueled stupor or hyper-consumption.
While chatting with colleagues at work, it's inevitable that parts of the conversation deal with anger over using tax revenue to pay for banker's salaries. The lack of contrition from the banks has made the job of winning public support for responsible financing much more difficult.
But so does shutting down public services during an ill-advised day of inaction.
