Employers' group IBEC has urged Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to prioritise the protection of jobs, while also stimulating jobs creation in the December Budget.
In its pre-Budget submission, IBEC says the Government should also remain resolute on cutting the public finances.
IBEC has also called on the Government not to introduce the widely expected carbon tax in the forthcoming Budget.
The submission says that an 'ambitious' jobs stimulus package is urgently needed to protect existing jobs and help get those on the Live Register back to work. It also wants to see a reduced rate of employers' PRSI for new jobs created next year.
IBEC calls for the introduction of a state-backed trade credit insurance scheme and warns that the target to reduce the general Government deficit to below 3% by 2013 should not in any way be relaxed.
Today's submission also urges that companies should be allowed to offset research and development tax credit relief against either their PRSI liability or corporation tax.
'The priority must be to implement policies that will get Ireland working again, by making better use of existing sources,' commented IBEC Director General Danny McCoy.
'The Government should front-load adjustments in the public finances in this Budget, that way businesses and consumers will become more confident about future economic prospects,' he added.
'If we make the right decisions now, the economy will emerge stronger from this recession. If we postpone these choices, however, Ireland's economic malaise could continue for many years,' he cautioned.
