The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has confirmed that the Government will further increase mortgage interest relief in December's Budget in a bid to reduce the impact of rising interest rates on mortgage holders.
Micheál Martin was speaking after he and the Taoiseach met the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the employers' lobby group IBEC to discuss the problem of rising inflation in the Irish economy.
Arriving for the meeting, ICTU General Secretary David Begg said that it was now clear that inflation averaging 5% was a long term phenomenon which was eroding wages.
He said the union side would like to see some progress on mortgage interest relief and reducing VAT rates to alleviate the problem for workers.
The Director General of IBEC, Turlough O'Sullivan, called for a review of the system of fixing energy prices.
He said the system run by the Commissioner for Energy Regulation was not working as prices are among the highest in Europe and there has been a failure to introduce real competition.
In a statement, Mr O'Sullivan claimed pay increases and budget tax reliefs would protect workers but that more needs to be done to safeguard exposed sectors in the business community from the inflationary pressures.
