'Talking shop' on public services exacerbating cost-of-living crisis, Fórsa head claims

Kevin Callinan said Ireland’s social wage, a measure of to what extent State spending on welfare and public services benefits people, is “very low by comparison to other modern European countries”. File picture: Maxwells

The slow pace of talks on creating affordable public services is exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis, according to the leader of the country's largest public sector union.

Kevin Callinan, Fórsa's general secretary told the union's biennial conference in Killarney that the impact of inflation on living standards “demands more than a talking shop”.