Eamon Gilmore: Rising wages sign of healthy economy

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has told a trade union conference rising wages are "the sign of a healthy economy" and, while creating and maintaining employment remains the Labour Party’s top priority, "we should look forward to seeing wages rise and living standards improve".

Addressing Impact trade union’s biennial conference in Killarney, Mr Gilmore said when the economy recovers to prosperity those on low-middle incomes would have to benefit, not just those at the top.

On public service pay, he believes the next time the Government and unions sit down to talk, “it will be to talk about increasing pay not reducing it”.

In reference to the legislation that underpinned pay cuts in the Haddington Road agreement, the minister said he “looked forward to the day when FEMPI (Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) legislation becomes a thing of the past”.

He said that, as the economy moves out of crisis, “we must set our country on a new path— a path to a better Ireland than the one that went before”.

“We have to learn the lessons of the excess and of greed that led to the crash,” he said.

However, in response, Impact general secretary Shay Cody said there was a lack of a clear vision of the kind of country the Government wants to emerge from the economic recovery.

“The most fundamental criticism we make of the Government is we do not see a clear vision of what sort of country we would wish to have after we achieve recovery,” he said.

“We have no obvious equivalent of the vision that led to the British national health service and the welfare state. In contrast, it is obvious that some in Irish political life and commentary life want to restore our country to what it was before the crash.

“Tánaiste that would not be acceptable.

“We want a modern social democracy that is more Berlin than Boston. We must build our society on solidarity, not the tax-cutting, privatisation model of light-touch regulation, inequality and intolerance,” he said.

The union leader also urged the Tánaiste not to ease up on efforts to resolve the bank debt issue.

He said Ireland was shouldering 42% of the cost of Europe’s bank debts.

“These debts should not be ours and the Government must use each and every opportunity in Europe to secure a solution,” he said.