Begg says Partnership talks over
Tuesday, 5 May 2009 22:05
A meeting of the ICTU executive council has concluded with the General Secretary saying that talks on a national economic recovery plan have effectively ended.
Speaking after the meeting, David Begg said that there was nothing more the unions could say to the Government about its proposals for economic recovery through a social solidarity pact.
He said it was just not credible for them to keep talking and getting nothing back and he compared the talks process to playing handball against a haystack.
Mr Begg said he was expecting to hear a response from the Government before the end of the week.
He said it had been clear from the talks that the Department of Finance was in the dominant role in Government affairs.
Before the meeting, Larry Broderick of the Irish Bank Officials Association said it was unacceptable that the Government had not come up with a strategy to tackle the unemployment crisis.
Others voiced frustration at the failure to progress measures on home repossessions and pension protection.
The social partnership talks were described as a ploy by Betty Tyrell Collard of the Civil and Public Service Union, who added that they were going nowhere.
IMPACT General Secretary Peter McLoone echoed that pessimism, but said he expected the Government would meet the unions later this week.
- Nine News: Ingrid Miley, Industry & Employment Correspondent, reports that David Begg of ICTU says it was just not credible to keep talking and to get nothing back
- Six One News: Ingrid Miley, Industry & Employment Correspondent, reports that David Begg said talks on an economic recovery plan were effectively over
- Six One News: Peter McLoone, General Secretary of IMPACT, explains that the talks-process is finished as far as ICTU is concerned
