Austerity Disastrous for Irish Society
30 Apr 2011
Congress has said the Government must end the official obsession with "self defeating austerity measures that have been an unmitigateddisaster for Irish society."
Speaking ahead of the May Day demonstration taking place in Dublin, Congress General Secretary David Begg said: "The Government's own forecasts now concede that the economic outlook is deteriorating and another 30,000 jobs will be lost this year, which means another 30,000 families pushed to breaking point.
"We have had almost three years of severe austerity and the results are plain for all to see: a dramatic surge in unemployment, a bigger deficit and the return of net emigration. The best and the brightest are being forced abroad.
"Sometimes you have to ignore what it says in the textbooks and look at the wealth of evidence around you. The austerity programme has been entirely self-defeating and an unmitigated disaster for Irish society," Mr Begg said.
"Cutting peoples incomes - especially those on low and average earnings - shrinks the economy and causes job losses.
"The claim that we must keep cutting wages to restore lost competitiveness is bogus and based on hocus pocus economics. Unit labour costs in Ireland - the cost of producing goods here - have now fallen below Greece, Portugal, Spain and Germany," Mr Begg pointed out.
He said a reversal of the austerity programme would boost the domestic economy and help create new jobs, pointing out that although the export sector was important it was too small to lift the entire economy.
While the Government's forthcoming Jobs Initiative was welcome, Mr Begg said it would have to contain concrete programmes to get people back to work immediately and could not be "informed by aspiration and wishful thinking."
The Dublin May Day demonstration will assemble today at 11.30am in Parnell Square. It is one of a series of events taking place during the 2011 May Day Festival, which runs until May 7. Full details available at www.ictu.ie/mayday