Much better use for those €4 million

I agree totally with the letter by Charles Micallef, The Government Must Lead By Example (December 9). Funnily enough, the front page on the day also had an interesting article about the MPs giving themselves an extra €4 million.

While the average family is having to face price rises as in petrol, gas and food, our MPs, instead of giving a good example and taking a salary cut, give themselves more pay! Meanwhile, with the €4 million wouldn’t it be more beneficial for the government to employ some of those young people who passed the exams for clerks in the civil service and who received the results in May? Seven months later they are still without a job.

The government could employ 50 clerks and still spend less than the €4 million. Several departments are actually facing a shortage of clerks as many who have retired or left have not been replaced and then people complain about the “bad” civil service. If there is a lack of staff, of course the service in some departments is going to suffer.

It seems that in our country our priorities are topsy turvy. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.