Cowen urges pre-budget path of agreement instead of conflict

THE TAOISEACH said that he was not seeking confrontation with the public sector unions.

“Since my first ministry, as minister for labour, I have sought progress by way of agreement,” he added.

Brian Cowen said that anger was not a policy and did not provide a panacea.

He also knew the responsibility and duty of the Government, which had ultimately to make the decisions that had to be made.

“I would rather them to be made on an agreed format than on a non-agreed format.”

The Government, he said, needed to see signs of progress this week in the talks with the public sector unions.

Mr Cowen was replying to Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore who said that the Taoiseach had the choice of going down the route of confrontation, and he knew there were people encouraging him to do that.

“That would be a disaster,” Mr Gilmore added. “We are already seeing considerable signs of the degree of conflict to which it will lead.”

There were quite disturbing noises from some of the Taoiseach’s own people

“A Minister has described the relationship between two sets of workers in this country, namely, those in the private sector and those in the public sector, as being in a state of civil war,” he added.

“That is not the kind of language that is conducive to getting co-operation and agreement on what needs to be done.”

Mr Cowen said there were areas where there was agreement and areas where, perhaps, there was a difference of emphasis.

“On all occasions, I have been seeking to point out that the best way forward is an agreed way forward, one that is about solving the problems, not avoiding them.”

Mr Cowen said that all involved in the social partnership process had that major challenge to confront and overcome.

The Taoiseach said he had been involved personally and he would be involved again in an effort to obtain agreement, “knowing that on December 9th there are decisions to be taken and they are best taken with the greatest measure of agreement beforehand than not”.

He accepted, he said, that the effort was being made and would be made on a continuous basis, “but we must also acknowledge that the question of the period of time in which we have to do this, and the scale of the issue this year, regardless of that other question, remains the same . . . of a correction of €4 billion being required”.

Earlier, the Taoiseach said that an exchequer borrowing requirement in the region of €26 billion was forecast for this year as a whole.

“This implies a general government deficit in the region of 12 per cent of GDP by the end of 2009,” he added.

“Continuing to borrow at a high level to bridge the gap that has emerged between revenue and expenditure is not a sustainable solution in the medium to long-term.”

Replying to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach said that the Government hoped to see economic growth return during next year, even if the first full year of growth would be in 2011.