Instead of "being fixated with relativity to someone else's pay, we should all be fixated on Ireland's capacity to compete and so bring prosperity to all", the director general of IBEC, Mr John Dunne, told the organisation's Dublin regional conference yesterday.
He particularly cautioned against further increases in public sector pay, which he described as "demands for extra taxation".
"It is a sobering thought that financing the public sector pay bill takes all of the income tax paid by all citizens," he said. There were far more deep-seated problems to contend with.
"Labour shortages have emerged throughout the country as a major obstacle to growth," he added. The escalation of house prices far exceeded inflation or earnings. There was also a greater sense of urgency needed in meeting infrastructural needs.
He called for greater use of partnership agreements at national and local level to meet infrastructural needs, skill and labour shortages, educational reform and changes in the public service to ensure the State continued to compete successfully. "We should not abandon a winning formula that has brought us this far," he added.
