Huuumm...the initial post says that "public sector workers in Ireland" are having their wages cut because "the bosses write themselves huge wage cheques each month [and] give themselves bonuses ad infinitum". Things must be different in Ireland - in the US, the public sector bosses are also on fixed salaries and hardly write their own checks or give themselves bonuses. When I was a public sector boss, and the employees of our government agency were required to take two week unpaid leaves, the bosses went first - and that saved enough money that the rank-and-filers didn't have to.