Still browsing it seems like to get reasonable figures they adjusted incomes due to purchasing power. That doesn’t really make much sense when the incomes involved are so high.
pay for the most senior levels, namely, prime ministers, government ministers and
administrative heads of ministries was, generally speaking, substantially below the
rates prevailing in Ireland. This gap was less pronounced when income was adjusted
to include the value of benefits and to reflect differences in income tax and relative
purchasing power between countries.
Jeez the gap is less pronounced when you come up with your own fudge factor.
They also reckon that our comparator countries are
Austria, Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands. UK and Germany.
Fuck’s sake. The whole idea is to get wages down so costs will come down. This ‘higher costs here justify’ nonsense has to go.
And not once in the document do they mention deflation… so they take higher costs into account, based on 2008 levels, but don’t take the fact that those costs are falling?
They’re actually adjusting for income tax as well. I.E due to paying themselves too much they’ve to increase income taxes, but that’s ok because they can allow their salaries to take this into account.
And as for purchasing power, someone on 200k doesn’t need to buy any more of the objects that make up the inflation basket than someone on an average salary. What were they talking about here, luxury cars -houses?
They decided not to include a simple table showing the income comparisons instead we’ve to make do with
Administrative head of ministry of finance (Secretary General, Level I in
Ireland)
4.7 An appropriate comparator for this role could not be found in Austria. The
salary of the Irish role places it ahead of the other comparators. The next highest, the
UK role, is at 84% of the Irish level and the levels for the equivalent role in the four
other countries are very considerably lower again. The rate for the equivalent post in
Finland, with which the Irish post is banded, is 51% of the Irish rate.
4.8 When the adjusted income basis is examined, the Irish post is found to be
second to that of its equivalent in the UK, which is 56% higher, and slightly above its
German equivalent which is at 96% of the adjusted income level for Ireland. The
adjusted income for the equivalent position in Finland is 66% of that of the Irish post
This allows them to come up with the adjustment for that level
300,358 255,304 45,054 (-15%)
Where’s as a 50% drop to 150k would be easily justifiable.
Also these Gen Secs earn more than the taoiseach, the level 2 Sec Gen only just over 1k less than the taoiseach.
