Workers need a pay hike to cope with rise in living costs

WE Irish have never been afraid of hard work. When the British lorded it over our four green fields, we got down and dirty to eke out a basic living.

During a century of self-governance, access to education and economic development has provided us with decent jobs. The ‘work ethic’ is engrained in our psyche and our collective effort has built a robust Irish economy.

The psychological benefits of work make the effort well worthwhile. Work gives us a sense of purpose, stability, dignity and value. It allows us to socialise and make friends.

Work provides us with intellectual, creative, infrastructural and production challenges. Work helps us to maintain positive self-esteem and self-worth. Work enables us to upskill and build confidence. Many forms of work allow us to contribute to the public good. Work puts money in our pockets to facilitate a decent quality of life.

Most of us have a healthy worklife balance as we ‘work to live’ rather than ‘live to work.’ Every worker is entitled to a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Likewise, employers are entitled to a just profit. In a social democratic and compassionate country, sufficient public income must always be generated to cater for the needs of those who are genuinely unable to work. But with spiralling inflation undermining the value of takehome pay, workers urgently need a decent wage increase to meet the unsustainable cost of living.

BILLY RYLE, Tralee, Co. Kerry.

Leo’s priorities wrong

LEO Varadkar – a generation can’t afford homes. A generation can’t afford to have children.

A generation are leaving the country to work in their different professions, and your primary purpose is to keep Sinn Féin out of government? PAT O’CALLAGHAN,

Mallow, Co. Cork.

Don’t follow US orders

URSULA von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, serves the EU badly. It is becoming obvious that policy for the EU comes directly from Washington and the US has decided the ‘phony’ war in Ukraine will continue until Russia is entirely exhausted and destroyed. This is turning out to be a wonderful war for the US: no direct US involvement, no body bags or announcement of lost warplanes or ships.

The fighting and killing and dying is done by others while US military industries are booming as weapons are tested to the ultimate in real-life and real-death situations.

The Ukrainian nation is being destroyed as its people are goaded to fight to the death; cannon fodder, lambs to the slaughter. They are hoodwinked into thinking that all their pain and suffering is in the name of freedom. The reality is they are slaves to those who take every opportunity to throw oil on the raging fire of war and keep Ukrainian and Russian blood flowing. The EU is on a very precarious sideline. It appears amazingly gung-ho in aiding its US master by doing everything possible, even to its own determent, to stoke the fire and strangle Russia economically as well as on the war front. Heaping ever-increasing sanctions on a nation that has the most powerful nuclear arsenal on Earth is a very dangerous game.

So, Ms von der Leyen, think again about how you are being used, just as Ukraine is being used, in a major attempt by the US to take Russia down. It is brinkmanship of the most dangerous fashion to antagonise and try to economically cripple probably the biggest nuclear power on Earth. If driven to a situation where the only options are capitulation or use of nuclear weapons, Russia will opt for the latter. Do your duty, Ms von der Leyen, and safeguard your people in the EU rather than acquiescing to the power grab in which the US appears to be engaged.

Scannal – The O’Grady Kidnapping & the Border Fox, 7pm, RTÉ One

TONIGHT we go back in time to 1987, to revisit the story of dentist John O’Grady’s kidnapping ordeal at the hands of ‘Border Fox’ Dessie O’Hare.