Union leaders have warned that public sector pay cuts in Wednesday's budget could lead to chaos and unrest.
Peter McLoone of IMPACT told RTÉ that the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan had cautioned last year that pay cuts in France could lead to riots - and warned that we could expect a similar reaction here.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minster Micheal Martin has warned that the forthcoming Budget will be ‘very tough’ but has the potential to turn around the economy.
He said it would be damaging to the economy to delay fiscal correction and said this budget would allow the Government to stabilise debt and begin to move out of recession.
Unpaid leave 'would have saved €986m'
Earlier, ICTU General Secretary David Begg said a union proposal for 12 days unpaid annual leave for public service workers would have saved €986 million in the sector.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Mr Begg said officials representing the Government in the talks - which collapsed on Friday - had accepted the figure as a basis for reaching overall agreement on €1.3 billion cuts required next year.
He said the balance of savings agreed would have come from reduced over-time payments, cuts at higher level employment and a continuation of the recruitment ban.
Mr Begg also claimed that the Taoiseach's rejection of the proposal had contributed to a breakdown in social partnership model.
Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise Dara Calleary said there was support within Government for the unpaid annual leave proposal but that it did not meet the criteria for permanent savings and would have caused a disruption to services.
He also said proposals for public service reform should still be pursued.
