The Fine Gael leader says cuts in wages and jobs in the public service are now clearly part of the agenda aimed at curtailing the deterioration in the public finances.
Enda Kenny was in Limerick this morning to meet party TDs from Limerick, Clare, Co Tipperary and from Kerry to discuss the fallout from the Dell jobs announcement last week.
They were also to discuss how the current economic downturn is affecting investment and jobs in the region.
When asked if he and Fine Gael supported moves to cut wages and jobs in the public sector, he said clearly cuts of some description were now on the agenda, but there had been no clarity from the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste about what these cuts would be or when they are due to be implemented.
He said Fine Gael six years ago was the first to indicate that the Benchmarking process would be a real opportunity to reform the public service. But he said the Government continued to ignore all the financial indicators that have now landed the country 'in this financial mess'.
Mr Kenny said he would not give political absolution to a Government who deliberately and consciously walked the people into a great proportion of what has now happened.
'Clearly the Government had no strategy to deal with the current situation.'
Public jobs could go: union chief
Earlier it emerged that a public service union leader has warned members that the International Monetary Fund could be brought in to order the 'mass dismissal' of public service workers.
In a letter to branch secretaries of the Public Service Executive Union, the union's General Secretary Dan Murphy said that the action might happen if the Government's level of borrowing is not curtailed.
In the letter - seen by The Irish Times - Mr Murphy acknowledged the country's 'major economic problems', quoting a possible deficit of €15.5bn in 2011 unless changes are made in taxes and expenditure.
Mr Murphy said that unions are prepared to be constructive providing no unilateral actions are taken to make their co-operation impossible.
However, he also said that the financial running of the country could be taken over by the IMF if Government spending is not brought under control.
He warned that such a measure could see mass dismissals from the public service and pay cuts for remaining workers.
While Mr Murphy insisted that public service pay cuts would provoke strike action, he said it was very much in the interests of union members that a solution be found to the financial crisis.
