€4bn cuts ‘catastrophic for society’

THE general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said public services will collapse if the Government presses through €4bn in spending cuts in the sector in the December Budget.

Speaking at the SIPTU biennial conference in Cork, David Begg said there were no circumstances in which the cuts could be achieved without it having “the most catastrophic effects on the whole civilised society.”

The Government wants to reduce Exchequer spending to 3% of GDP by 2013 but ICTU is pushing for that to be extended to 2017 and he points out such an extension has been adopted by French president Nicholas Sarkozy.