Fine Gael has called for a radical overhaul of the public sector, with increased accountability for units funded by public money.
Speaking at the party's conference in Co Wexford today, finance spokesman Richard Bruton said the Government had "systematically undermined" the potential for a high-performance public service, and accused it of creating a "monster".
"A new economic vision can only be delivered with a radically reformed public sector at its core. It is not just a matter of a Government living within sustainable tax revenues generated by the economy. More profoundly, modern competitive edge is built from roots in the education system, on foundations in well-run infrastructures and well-planned communities and through opportunities forged by responsive policies," he said.
Mr Bruton said that publicly funded units should know there is an explicit reward for achieving results and consequences for failure.
He accused the Government of selling public servants short, demoralising "committed people" and encouraging "a sense that professional standards of performance didn't matter".
Mr Bruton said the Government's budgets did not target waste or reward high performance, but instead forced the "weak and vulnerable to make room" when money was scarce.
He said Ireland was trailing far behind other countries who had already reformed their approach. "Because of a wasted decade, we now must concertina reform into a much shorter space of time and without the luxury of plentiful resources to do it. But this is a challenge which Government cannot afford to shirk any longer," he said.
The Fine Gael spokesman claimed the economy had been built on "quicksand" for the past five years, and also said the Government had lost sight of what was needed to survive in a small open economy.
"Where the need is to be nimble, alert and efficient, it has become sluggish, complacent and wasteful. This Government inhabits a totally different world from those who try to run small businesses competing in tough export markets," he said.
Earlier, social and family affairs spokeswoman, Olwyn Enright, said the Government's welfare policy was hindering those who wanted to return to work.
"It was successive Fianna Fáil Governments that have got the economy into the mess it's in and now their policies are hindering both economic recovery and the ability of those out of the workforce to get back into it," she said.
"We want to ensure that the system encourages people into work and that works pays so that no longer will you hear someone explain that they are better off remaining out of work. One of the most effective ways of
doing this is through the Back To Education Allowance (BTEA)."
Meanwhile, the party's enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar warned Ireland could not tax, spend or borrow its way out of a recession, but could trade its way out if the country was a good place in which to invest and do business.
"Brian Lenihan, the Minister for Finance, has presented his Budget as a patriotic bitter pill which we must swallow in order to make our sick economy well again. Brian Lenihan's budget is not medicine, it is poison and it will drive us deeper into recession," he said.
Mr Varadkar unveiled a number of proposals to help promote enterprise, including tax breaks for companies to take on new staff, re-examining the national pay deal, recapitalising the banks provided they give credit to viable businesses and home-buyers, and cutting red tape facing businesses.
"Despite what others would have you believe, we have yet to feel the full blast of the cold wind of global recession, but it is coming, and we will feel it harshly because we are exposed," he said.
"Some see the challenges and hard decisions that are before us and thank themselves that we are not in Government. We do not shirk from these challenges. We welcome them."