Because They're Worth It...

It's not that easy to paint a toddler. In fact, if I'm perfectly honest, it's downright impossible to get the results you desire when your canvas won't stop wriggling and squirming and trying to see what's going on!

The idea was brilliant, A shot from behind of the snot queen with the P.A.C.U.B (Protest Against Child Unfriendly Budget) logo printed on her nappy and "I'm Worth it" written on her back. Simple, right? WRONG. Apparently, the snot queen has no desire to be mama's blank canvas in the fight against child related budget cuts... Which brings me nicely to the point of this blog.

PACUB MADE THE COVER OF THE IRISH INDEPENDENT!!! Yes, that's right, thanks to everyone who joined the facebook campaign, signed the online and paper petitions, distributed posters, sent their nappies and protest letters to Leinster House and in general spread the word, our voices are being heard. You can read the full text of the article here.

Now, for an interesting fact to ponder whilst you read about the governments plan to take our children's money (we must ALL tighten our belts you know!)

Did you know that the starting salary for a TD is just over €95,000? Don't worry though, only a handful are on such a paltry wage. The majority make quite a bit more with the average TD salary being somewhere in the neighborhood of €122,000 per annum. And did I mention the daily expense accounts of about €300 per day? Now, assuming that's only on week days, that comes to about €78,000 a year which when added to their wages makes for a princely sum of €200,000 per TD (there are 166 at present in the Dail) per year. Oh, and this is before you work in the free phones and paid for mobile bills, travel expenses, money for staff and office expenditures etc...

That's quite a lot when you consider that the average Irish family income is €40,000. One fifth of a TD's earnings.

Apparently, they think their worth it...

Now, I'm off to put the snot queen down for her nap. In the end, I went with painting the bump instead. Much less wriggly, for the moment anyway!