Your correspondent Declan Doyle from Lisdowney is entitled to his views regarding how the citizens of this state are being treated by the government in relation to Nama and the bank bailouts (Letters, 5 September). In fact I concur with most of his expressed views.

His arguments are however undermined by factual inaccuracies which are used to attack ESB staff. ESB staff have not, as Mr Doyle emphatically states, received two pay increases in this "depression". ESB staff last received an increase in relation to phase one of 'Towards 2016' at the end of 2008. Since then, ESB staff have voted to forgo the other increases due and have in fact agreed a pay freeze until 31 December 2011. Mr Doyle states that ESB workers are the "best-paid electricity workers in the world bar none". In fact, Eurostat figures show the wages in ESB are average for utilities in the eurozone. And finally, the 5% PSO levy to be imposed on hard-pressed electricity users is a subsidy for peat generation and wind generation and will apply to all electricity companies – ESB, Bord Gáis Eireann and Airtricity included – and is not to go to the pockets of ESB staff as Mr Doyle suggests.

Mr Doyle falls into the trap set by the "right-wing media" he criticises – that of blaming workers for our current state of crisis. In doing so he detracts from his original, and correct prognosis: this country is broken because of bankers and enabling politicians – not workers in ESB or elsewhere.

Brendan Ogle,

Secretary, ESB group of unions