All up in the air

I wrote this back in November 2011. I just looked now and realised I hadn't posted it.

At the time I was going through a very difficult period in my career, trying to get others to share my vision for an organisation on the brink of failure, both financially and systemically. Looking back I'm pretty sure there was more written which I removed before getting off the plane, mainly related to the frustrations of people's narrow focus on the immediate situation without a view forward, as I saw it, I think I cried a lot that month thinking about that stuff, but hey; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!!

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 As I write this I'm 39,000 ft above the Mid-Atlantic travelling at almost 900km/h and is -50 degrees outside. I was kind of dreading this flight, mainly because I thought passing the time was going to be an issue. I've watched an episode (quite a hilarious one) of The Big Bang Theory, spent about 25 minutes selecting 2 hours of classical (yes classical, not classic) tunes to keep me occupied but more importantly I've read the first two chapters of a book that I bought almost a year ago, meant to read, but haven't had time, misplaced and found yesterday.

I was so excited about the book that half way through the second chapter I wanted to put it down and start blogging, and that's some feat for a book considering it's probably been 2 years since I set out to read a book. This book centres around the theories of leadership (so far anyway) and its réson d'être. This is something that in recent weeks has occupied my mind. From planning a proposal to fund 35 students through an intensive leadership programme, to listening to a woman who despite being our head of state for the past 14 years through boom and bust left office last week with many wishing the rules allowed her to seek another 7 years speak on the the topic, I have a new found obsession.

 I'll ramble a bit more after another few chapters, but the excitement of the realisation that the leader is in all of us really is a boost to me where I am in my life right now. Some people would call that bullshit, but there's idealogical examples abound of things I'd view as bullshit too.

 Your not so anchored Irishman

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P.S.  As it turned out I ended up sticking doggedly and determinedly to pushing through those reforms at the very limits of the rules, but I hope (and think they have) they left a stronger organisation behind. I learned a lot in that year that have shaped my character and given me an outside the box view on certain things.

The book is called The Leader who had no Title by Robin Sharma (@_robin_sharma) and later during that year I gave a copy to someone else coming under pressure to do things for optical reasons. I only hope it helped and that he in turn gave it to someone else.

Can we find our way again?

WARNING: THE BLOG IS CALLED THOUGHTS AND RAMBLINGS - THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF THIS POST IS QUITE DISJOINTED

The Background to my Ramble
IF we consider the issues facing Ireland in 2013 in the context of Ireland in 1993, there's no doubting that we're wealthier as an economy, poorer as a society, and just plodding along as a nation.

With all the talk of Croke Park II being a complete monster, ministers being snubbed by public sector unions (some rightfully so), and people losing jobs, there is a narrative the the government is out to get your pay packet, they have no concept of reality and that there are no jobs out there.

If we look at it from another point of view. The expenditure of the Dept. of Health/HSE was €6 billion in 2002, €9.1 billion in 2005 and estimates for 2013 (as reporting has changed) project an expenditure of €13.6 billion, more than twice what it was in 2002.

Total Exchequer expenditure in 2002 was €33 billion and €49 billion in 2012.

Core Consumer Prices are up from 82 to 102 (or 24%) during the period 2002 to 2012, yet government expenditure is up twice that amount.


Source: tradingeconomics.com

I don't begrudge a decent wage to anyone, but the definition of a decent wage is generally seen as "my salary + a bit more".

There is a wider divide at play here. Public sector pay has increased greatly due to benchmarking, but benchmarking against private sector rather than other OECD public sectors, as hindsight would now show to have been wiser.

The narrative both within Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin is the public sector worker is being hammered, and from government is that they wish they didn't have to cut it, whereas the reality is Ireland was paying its public servants more than it could sustainably afford for much of the last decade. These pay increases would not have been awarded to the extent that they were by any government taking a long-term view.

Where we lost our way
I recently watched a clip of  UK Labour MP Glenda Jackson launch a tirade against Thatcherism, it's destructive effect on the UK and the legacy of it's leader. Although my favourite part of the clip was watching the Speaker of the Commons put some Tory toff back in his box, the most striking  thing from Jackson's articulate, considered, top class oration was the line:

"Greed, selfishness, sharp elbows, sharp knees... an aspirational society, it aspired for things...people knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing"

She raises a valid point. Whilst it is often said Fianna Fáil blew the boom, people fail to realise that Fianna Fáil gave the boom to the people, which turns out had a worse effect. We got roads, hospitals, schools social amenities, but to imagine the steps forward we could have taken if the conditions weren't created whereby a young couple who were, taking a common example, an accountant and teacher could walk into a bank, and not only get a mortgage for a home, but also leave with a loan for an investment property, then we wouldn't have had a property bubble, we wouldn't have had a banking collapse.

The narrative has to change. The government isn't out to get anyone, it's attempting to rectify a gross mistake, a mistake made in good faith and with the best of intentions, to give people money, rather than provide them with state services, to inflate wages, therefore prices.

Paying our public servants well is by no means a mistake, but paying them too well, and creating conditions whereby planned pay rises (for that is what increments are to anyone living in the real world)  could be used to leverage loans, was a fatal mistake made by every government since the mid 1990s, which has left Ireland morally bankrupt.

We will get over the money. It took the Germans a century to pay back Versailles. They've lost everything, twice. Maybe when German legistlators become outraged at our cost base we should listen up. We will get over the money we have foolishly enabled ourselves to lose through the ballot box, what is yet to be seen is whether our society can recover, can we again become a nation where we know the value of everything, and the price is a secondary factor.

One of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me was the freedom to learn the value of money. From a young age I earned my own money, and I had to figure out how best to spend it or not. Many people of my generation, and those born in the 90s have surpassed the conundrum posed by Glenda Jackson, they know neither the price nor the value of anything, because they never had to buy anything for themselves, let alone earn the money to get it.

Until we have a society supported by an economy Ireland isn't recovering anytime soon.

Croke Park Must be Revisited

Some time ago I was facilitated by a TD in asking a parliamentary question on savings that could be achieved on a tiered pay reduction basis at the Department of Education and Skills.

The response was quite shocking to me. Protecting those who pay the standard rate of tax from any reductions with a 0% reduction and taking €3.05 per week from a €60,000 gross salary (representing a 0.26% reduction)  or €255.45 per week from a €200,000 gross salary (representing a 6.64% reduction) on an 8 point sliding scale from 0% to 15% a saving of just under €21 million (€21,000,000) can be achieved, that is before freezing increments until 2015 is taken into account, just in ONE department.

So with this in mind I did some sums. Taking into account that these costs are budgeted, they should not be taken solely as a saving to the exchequer. €20.9 million would employ just over 1,000 graduate special needs assistants, almost 600 graduate teachers or provide almost 1 million tutorial hours at third level, yet all of these things are being cut to protect pay and conditions for existing staff.

Does that sound like public service? Just to be clear, I don't begrudge anyone their salary, but the stark reality is we need more frontline public servants than we need to protect the pay of those already employed.

If replicated across the entire public sector, the service levels provided would likely be in for a vast improvement. It's not that we can't afford these things, it's that our government chooses not to take difficult decisions. A pay reduction to just under €187,000 still leaves a substantial salary, more than government ministers, and the new salary of the Taoiseach under such a regime of pay reductions.

I intend on asking a favour again to see what the levels of saving would be in other government departments, state agencies and QUANGOs. I'll blog again when I hear back

Fixing Ireland's 3rd level crisis.

A bit of a long one coming up after a substantial absence.

The answer to Ireland’s third level crisis lies in partnership

I have, for almost three years now, publicly opposed the introduction of fees based on the democratic mandate of students. There is a logical dissonance in arguing for higher quality for free; it doesn’t add up.

The reasoning behind questioning funding is even more pertinent today than it was when I first did so in 2009 through preferendum. State income to the third level sector has been slashed, student numbers are increasing, the HEA pension bill is set to balloon, and pay is protected under the Croke Park Agreement; it doesn’t compute.

I don’t believe in the principle of “free fees” as constituted in Ireland. The simple fact is that anyone would be a fool to; the 'Student Contribution' is set to rise to €3,000 by 2015, with no extra benefit to the third level sector, its students, the deficits and ultimately with no benefit to education.

Over the past three years I have seen standards and services deteriorate, funding collapse and student numbers increase. The Hunt Report Strategy to 2030 cites Policy Options for New Student Contribution (2009) in relation to student fees:

The best model [proposed in the report] is a combination of means-tested grants and student fees, allied to a system of deferred-repayment, income-contingent student loans. This model ensures that at any given time, the amount that a borrower has to repay is proportionate to his or her disposable income. This is achieved by varying the term of the loan – but without excessive penalty to borrowers who take longer to repay. It is proposed that as part of the system, individual students should have the option to pay all or part of the contribution up front.

Academic programmes face the chop (not that all sectoral realignment is a bad thing), research output is under severe pressure. All of this is leading to Ireland’s institutions sliding down the international rankings in terms of academic standards faster than a firefighter down a pole.

Support services keep students in education; they are not just extras that can be discarded, however anything that isn’t teaching related falls ready for the next chop of the axe, with libraries, IT facilities and tutorials in the mix with counselling, learner support units and student advisory.

It is imperative that we explore how students, alumni and state in partnership with industry and philanthropy can successfully fund our institutions into the future. There must now be a move towards endowments for current spending rather than primarily one-off capital spending in the philanthropic area. Most importantly, there must be no cost disincentive or barrier at point of entry, as stated in the Hunt Report.

The key learning from our student forums is that students are willing to pay for higher quality and more supports, but only on the basis that the same commitment, heretofore lacking, comes from government; this will make the bitter pill of fees easier to swallow and appeal to those philanthropists who want to make a difference, not simply make-up a shortfall. The state as co-ordinator, must lead, and must show there is a plan to attract the brightest from overseas and keep Ireland’s brightest here.

A little direction please

So my sat nav Geraldine is getting on in years now. I found this out at the weekend when 3 of us travelled to Rosscarbery in West Cork. The West part is very important. The people from there would hate to be associated with other Cork people.

Anyhow, Geraldine is ageing. She misses roundabouts, knows all the old roads and none of the new ones and advises me not to use whilst driving, actually I have to agree to that before she'll talk to me at all. She's the typical woman really.

Anyhow I'm rambling in getting to a point. I'm loving the new One Direction song - What Makes You Beautiful. Is it really strange that a 24 year old man. Yes, I just described myself as a man. Strange. Anyhow. Is it really strange that a 24 year old man like a really poppy song aimed at tweeny bopping girls??

Screw it I don't care. Do I light up your world like nobody else?

Sometimes I Wonder

Some of the stuff that goes on in the world is really puzzling sometimes.

I had what I would consider to be a fairly big victory at work today, not so much because I fought for something and won, but because I asked a question and it turned out I was right and gained a substantial amount of money as a result.

Then you have a domino effect at the News of the World. A few dodgy characters decide to hack dead peoples' voicemail and a whole 168 year old print publication sinks in the space of a week. Hardly fair to all the people who work there and had no knowledge or part in this scandal. Rupert Murdoch seems to be willing to just do it.

Added to that the whole JLC unconstitutionality. The employer that took it was probably described as an idiot, a tight arse and any number of significantly more derogatory names. Just because it was an unpopular action, doesn't mean it was wrong, and although it will have an impact at some level, this country has much larger issues than JLC wage mechanisms. If our government were to have the balls to slash and burn on the long term unemployed then they'd be begging for these low paid (hah...€8.65 is luxury wages to unemployed people in most of Europe) and maybe some of our more necessary hospitals could keep their A&E open after 8pm!

Anyhow, a thought, a rambling and a little rant from me!

So, day one in the new job and my thoughts turn to the year ahead. It was a fairly jam packed day all round. We had a great send off for the lads on Friday which resulted in merriment in Limerick city as well as Limerick's University suburb. Sad to see the team go but glad to have a new one around me.

So what ramblings have I today. Well, none really. I just thought I'd check in and let ye know that I haven't forgotten all about ye.