Social solidarity was "very much at hazard in these times", Ictu general secretary David Begg said today, describing social welfare cuts proposals from an Born Snip Nua reported in the media as "horrendous".
There was also a need to protect vulnerable people by safeguarding social welfare rates, he said.
Mr Begg pointed out that social welfare beneficiaries would spend the money, putting it back into the economy, "unlike the €3 billion given to Anglo Irish bank, which won't be spent".
"The situation is very bad indeed with the country nearly banjaxed," he continued, saying Ireland was in the grip of a number of "sub-crises".
Speaking at the Sisters of Charity `Justice and the Downturn' conference in Dublin yesterday he said those crises included the economic, that in banking, the fiscal crisis in public revenue and a reputational crisis "with an external perception that Ireland is `toxic' at the moment".
He argued that current economic policy may not be sustainable in the future. "Does anyone know of any country which deflated its way out of a crisis?", he asked. He didn't know one and warned current and planned cuts in Ireland would "deepen the (economic) spiral".
Mr Begg said he doubted whether stimulus in other countries would cause an Irish tide to rise. Even if that were to happen it would "not be any time soon, on the available evidence", he said.
The Ictu general secretary pointed out that public spending in Ireland "is extremely low" and noted that of 19 OECD countries Ireland came third from the bottom when it came to public spending.
Currently Ireland was back where it was in 2003 "still one of the wealthier countries in the world". What was needed in Ireland was that "we relearn social solidarity, making sure no one is left behind."
He called for a new national solidarity pact to ensure the effects of adjustment were not borne "by the people least able to bear it".
Mr Begg measures to keep people at work such as were being already employed in Denmark, Germany and Spain were needed.
""An unequivocal €1 billion euro should be devoted to the project.... we have to make the big gesture. Whatever chance we have we must keep people in the workforce as, once they leave, the chance of them drifting into long term unemployment is acute," he said.
Government borrowing should be extended over a timeframe which does least damage to the social fabric, he said.
"We have to resolve the banking crisis. Personally I believe the banks have to come into public ownership," he said.
He said we must also ensure "no family loses their house through losing a job", and called for a guarantee covering a period of years before legal action might be taken against such a family.
Pensions schemes must be protected and there was a need to restructure the tax system. "We must decide what we want in public services and pay for it," he said.
Mr Begg also called for the introduction of a national recovery bond in which people could put their money "in the patriotic interest" and which could be used for infrastructural development. But having discussed such an idea with officials at the Department of Finance he felt he had been "banging my head against a wall".
Overall he felt the Government response to the current crises had been "somewhat disappointing" and that it showed "a poverty of ambition" when it came to mobilising the people.
