The Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance met all of the social partners at Dublin Castle this morning for preliminary discussions on a new social partnership agreement.
David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said he would be arguing that we need to question whether Ireland should pursue economic growth for its own sake.
He said 6% growth this year could be sustained only with substantial immigration of 7,000 people per month from Eastern Europe, adding that this was putting pressure on our social services. Mr Begg said he would be arguing that the country might be better off with growth of 4 %.
IBEC's director general Turlough O'Sullivan said Ireland was a very small economy and was not in a position to determine how fast or how slow its economy would grow.
He said it was right that there was a social dimension to the talks, adding that childcare was a concern for everyone. But he said that unless the economy and business were performing well, we would never be able to afford to address those social concerns.
Mr O'Sullivan said there were signs that the productive sector in Ireland had lost competitiveness, and 30,000 jobs had been lost in manufacturing in recent years. He said high prices and high costs were threatening competitiveness.
The Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said that the Exchequer lost €4 billion in tax revenues in the economic downturn in 2001/2002, and that slower economic growth could affect our economy in a substantial way.
He said the aim was to have as many earners as possible either out of the tax net entirely or paying tax at the standard rate. But he warned that the demographic situation was pushing up the cost of healthcare and care for the elderly.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the key areas the Government needed to address were health and education sectors. He said economic growth was needed to provide the resources for these areas. The Taoiseach said the era of tax cutting was over, and he believed there was no argument for cutting tax rates.
John Dillon of the Irish Farmers Association said that with pressure on prices and increases in costs, farm incomes had never been under such pressure. The IFA would be making sure at the talks that any increase in wages would have to be based on productivity.
Sean Healy of CORI, speaking on behalf of the social, community and voluntary wing of the social partners, said Sustaining Progress was only a modest agreement and that more needed to be done.
