A Congress delegation has warned officials from the 'bailout troika' that there will be no economic recovery without investment and a "real jobs programme."
Speaking ahead of a scheduled meetings with officials from the IMF, ECB and EU Commission, Congress General Secretary David Begg said: "The key to recovery is growth and a real jobs programme, not the pursuit of austerity policies which even international ratings agencies now characterise as self-defeating."
Mr Begg said evidence of the failure of the Troika policies in Ireland was now clear and irrefutable. "Domestic demand has collapsed, falling by 25% in four years. That translates directly into thousands of job losses in local communities across the country. Retail sales are down, tax revenue has decreased and the numbers at work continues to decline.
"The terms of the 'bailout' deal are far too onerous and, quite simply, unrealistic. Our 1.8 million people at work - of whom a quarter work part time - cannot be expected to pay the debts of gambling, speculative bankers. That debt needs to be seriously renegotiated, as does the repayment period for our sovereign debt," Mr Begg said.
He said the failure of the EU Commission and the ECB to resolves the wider European crisis presented Ireland with the opportunity to renegotiate. "We've met our commitments. They haven't."
Mr Begg said there was a widespread belief in Ireland that the motivation behind the original bailout was the preservation of major European banks, as opposed to an act of solidarity.
"Short-term and minority financial interests cannot be allowed to dominate over solidarity and the original common purpose of the EU. It is a union of peoples, not markets," Mr Begg said.
