IBEC: Protests will not work

Business group IBEC in a statement released ahead of tomorrow's planned day of protest by public sector unions said that Ireland needs "a plan to protect jobs, not a protest to disrupt jobs".

The group said that an agreed plan was needed to get Ireland working again, not the deliberate disruption of public services and business by those who already have jobs.

"The real casualties of the economic downturn are the 422,500 people who have lost their jobs or who are underemployed," said IBEC Director of Industrial Relations Brendan McGinty.

"These are extraordinary times. Old solutions and old style protests will not make one Irish person better off or their job more secure.

“We need to work together to get ourselves out of this crisis quickly so that we restore our own confidence, and international confidence, in our country," Mr McGinty said. "It is counterproductive to meet the inevitable adjustment by disrupting employment and services.

“The practical thing to do now is for all of us to work to keep costs down and for the government to direct funds towards keeping people in work. This makes more sense than spending the same amount of money to support those same people out of work."