The President of the Workers’ Party, Michael Finnegan, has strongly defended the action taken by public sector workers today in opposition to further cuts in their pay.

Mr. Finnegan said “over the last few days we have seen a vital need for proper public infrastructure and public services.  Public sector workers were put to the test by the national emergency and stepped up to the mark admirably”.

“Only a week ago we once saw the selfishness of bankers as they attempted to secure an annual salary of €633,000 for the incoming Chief Executive of AIB. This obscene salary would not be achieved in over a decade by the men and women in the frontline of the flood defences, yet it is those people and their livelihoods which are under attack”, said Mr. Finnegan.

“We must never forget that it is the bankers and building speculators who have destroyed our public finances and brought the national economy to its knees. As the government prepares what is likely to be the most vicious budget in the history of the state, we must continually emphasise that those who caused this crisis must be held responsible and, for the first time in their history, must be made to pay their share”.

Issued Tuesday 24th November 2009