Representatives of unions, employers and the Government today resumed talks at Government Buildings on a new national wage agreement.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions called on the Government to abandon its plans for co-located hospitals, and to tax capital gains as income.
ICTU General Secretary David Begg was speaking after the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance held a high-level economic briefing for the social partners at Government Buildings.
Brian Cowen estimated a €3bn deficit for this year. He told employers and unions that Government decisions on how to tackle the economic problems will be revealed next week.
After the briefing, Mr Begg said pay cuts were not the only solution at the Government's disposal in dealing with its economic difficulties.
He said the Government could save between €500m and €600m by abandoning its plan for co-located hospitals.
He said it should also close off tax shelters.
Mr Begg said he favoured the principle of taxing capital gains as income and that fairness should be the priority.
On his way into the talks, IBEC's Turlough O'Sullivan said the employers' body would be looking for a pay pause in the public sector.
He conceded that within the private sector some companies could afford moderate pay increases, while others could justify a pay pause.
He said the sides needed to find a model in the social partnership process to address that divergence in the private sector.
Jack O'Connor of SIPTU said a deal was possible if it was approached from the perspective of protecting both living standards and jobs.
He said there would then be a focus on inflation, and dealing with the problem, rather than workers being expected to carry the can.
The talks were adjourned to allow the parties time to digest the latest poor revenue figures, and will resume at 11am on Friday.
