The employers group IBEC has said that it is very hard to envisage pay increases for workers before 2011 because of the economic crisis.
Arriving for talks on an economic recovery plan, Director-General Turlough O'Sullivan said the current practice in industry is that pay is being frozen and even cut.
He said that, for the foreseeable future, he did not think anyone could contemplate any increases in pay.
Asked how long that pay freeze should continue, Mr O'Sullivan said it was hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel before 2011.
He said the national finances were clearly in a precarious position, and that the social partners must come up with a credible plan - probably over four to five years - that their colleagues in the EU as well as Irish people will believe in.
He said that at this stage it was important not to depress the economy too severely by taking too much out of it.
He said it was equally important to support enterprise because the only way out of the crisis was to have enterprises that can compete and support as many jobs as possible.
The Construction Industry Federation said the priority had to be the retention of jobs.
CIF Director-General Tom Parlon said his sector had seen a massive loss of jobs - but said the construction sector had the capacity to maintain and create jobs.
He wants the Government to introduce a stimulus package to maintain investment in infrastructure.
He called for flexibility in the legal wage structures in the construction sector, saying that without such flexibility on pay, employers were left with no option but to cut jobs.
Asked how he would feel about tax breaks being abolished, he said the notion of tax breaks had been exaggerated out of all proportion.
He said that during the boom, when the construction sector was employing 260,000 people and was worth €38 billion, it had contributed €50 billion to the Exchequer.
He said there was a serious infrastructure deficit in housing, health roads and schools, and that with quotes for work now down to the levels of ten years ago, the Government would get good value for money by investing in such projects.
The chief executive of Chambers Ireland, Ian Talbot, echoed the call for pay restraint, adding that restoring competitiveness might mean reductions in pay.
He said their priority was to find ways to regenerate business and get economic activity going.
