The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has called for a "national understanding" on income distribution.

Outgoing general secretary David Begg said that without such an initiative, Ireland would struggle to help its citizens, "leading to deeper inequality and growing social division".

Addressing delegates at the Public Service Executive Union’s social protection divisional conference in Athlone, Mr Begg said there were “formidable difficulties to be overcome in pursuit of a distributional settlement that maximises the life opportunities for all our citizens”.

“Nevertheless, without some kind of national understanding on [income] distribution we are not going anywhere fast,” he said.

Mr Begg said that social protection - with a budget of €26.8 billion - “is central to the political economy of the nation”.

However, he maintained that policy choices were hamstrung by a massive debt burden, which cost almost €8 billion a year to service.

“The fiscal freedom available to Government to advance important public goods like childcare . . . is limited,” Mr Begg said.

Mr Begg said this and other impediments meant it was time to reimagine our concept of social services and move to the “social investment” model that would equip people with the skills necessary to participate fully in the labour market and ensure good quality jobs.