Business leaders warn on pay claims

THE new national partnership deal must not harm the competitiveness of Irish companies by agreeing to large pay claims, business leaders warned yesterday.

Enterprise Ireland chief executive Dan Flinter said it was critical that all companies in Ireland came out of the partnership discussions with a cost base that allowed them to be competitive in international markets.

“The real issue is the capacity of all of the players involved to arrive at an outcome which allows companies to remain competitive in a challenging international market place,” said Mr Flinter.