Congress General Secretary David Begg said the Government should freeze all austerity measures "for at least 12 months", as part of a new Blueprint for Recovery designed to stimulate growth and create new jobs.
Addressing the TEEU conference in Portlaoise Mr Begg said: "If we were wise we would put a hold on austerity measures for at least this year to allow some growth back into the economy."
Mr Begg said the European Commission had recently agreed new (higher) deficit targets for Spain. "If the door is beginning to open, we should give it a hefty shove. The social cost of austerity is too high and it is not working."
He said that by extending the period of recovery to 2017 and implementing an investment programme – such as that costed and proposed by Congress this year – up to 100,000 new jobs could be created over three years.
'the lessons of the Great Depression may have been lost but they are as valid now as they were in the 1930s. No country, no society can afford to regard so many of its unemployed citizens as expendable."
Mr Begg told delegates that the "preservation of social cohesion" required a greater tax take from the wealthy and the profitable corporate sector.
'the Irish Financial Services Centre should not be allowed to write tax policy and Ireland should sign up to the Financial Transaction Tax. The shadow banking sector was the cause of this crisis. It would be unconscionable to let them off scot free while needy elderly citizens are denied home help."
The Blueprint for Recovery also required action on the Pensions" Crisis, a coherent national skills and industrial policy, a legal right to collective bargaining for trade unions, a deal on Ireland's bank debt and the forging of strategic alliances in Europe.
Mr Begg said Ireland was being asked to pay too high a social cost to save the big German and French banks.
"Being the best performing pupil in the class carries very little comfort for the families broken up by emigration or for those who stay here with no prospects of a job."
