The President of SIPTU, Jack O'Connor, has said the social landscape of Ireland is becoming increasingly polarised between the rich and the poor, despite having one of the most dynamic economies in the world.
He told a regional conference of the union that social expenditure here ranked among the lowest in Europe.
He accused the Government of adopting an approach which treated almost every imaginable aspect of social provision as a commodity to be bought and sold, rather than as an entitlement.
