Cut in welfare and a reversal of benchmarking urged

THE tripartite report on the economy by three leading Irish stockbroking companies said the public sector pay bill has to be tackled with reverse benchmarking, if the economy is to be restored.

It said also the social welfare bill was such a big part of the budget that “social welfare spending was too big to ignore”.

It said the public sector pay bill has almost tripled since 2000 to reach almost e19 billion. That has increased costs and had a negative impact across the economy.