The role of corporate managers in the Republic's economic success was often unrecognised but had been crucial to the evolvement of the partnership approach, the President, Mrs McAleese, said yesterday.

She was giving the keynote address at the Irish Business and Employers Confederation's (IBEC) Annual Employee Relations conference.

Mrs McAleese said IBEC's willingness to work with the social partners led to an achievement which was a dream for many generations.

"We are the generation that is poised to crack the millstone of poverty. We have the resources, we have the partnerships and the commitment to do that," the President said. Differences arose at the conference, however, when the general secretary of the MSF union, Mr Roger Lyons, called on the Government and IBEC to resist pressure from Britain to vote against a draft directive from the EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Mr Padraig Flynn, requiring companies employing 50 people or more to consult with employees on redundancies or the sale of subsidiaries.

Mr Lyons, who was speaking on the role of trade unions in "facilitating excellence" in organisations, said global problems had to be addressed within the euro zone.

Mr John Dunne, IBEC director general, replied from the floor, saying there were "substantial concerns" about Mr Flynn's proposal.

It was a top-down one, anti-competitive and inflexible at a time of economic development when businesses needed flexibility, he said. "The position of UNICE [the employers federation in Europe] is that they have twice rejected the concept of negotiating this development," he said. The chief executive of Irish Life, Mr David Went, spoke about customer service and the changing role of financial institutions. He said the rise in consumer power had forced the pace of change. "Financial institutions have had to re-evaluate their raison d'etre and the traditional assumptions on getting and keeping customers," he said.