The Taoiseach has said economic growth and competitiveness must be pursued in any new pay agreement. But he said it was also important to maintain employment standards.
Bertie Ahern was speaking as he arrived for the opening session of partnership talks at Dublin Castle. He said that, while the country needed good employers, regulating them out of existence would not be in workers' interests.
Business and employers' organisation IBEC also warned against over-regulation of the labour market. IBEC director general Turlough O'Sullivan was responding to trade union demands for greater enforcement of employment standards. He said Ireland was already a difficult place to do business with a heavy burden of regulation, and any increase in this would make it harder to attract investment.
But ICTU general secretary David Begg said employers had been given everything for the past 20 years and there must now be a dividend for workers in terms of quality of life and social services. He said employers would now have to get used to that reality.
The talks process is scheduled to last for six weeks, but it is widely believed that conflicting agendas will lengthen the duration of negotiations.
