Kenny warns that economy must be managed carefully

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said Irish people should not “lose the run of (themselves)” on pay levels because the economy is in recovery.

He said the new National Economic Dialogue to consider pay and tax priorities would be a better system than the old social partnership model.

“The situation that applied before was one that bypassed the Oireachtas completely… It was done behind closed doors in secret discussions. There wasn’t any engagement or transparency or proper analysis,” Mr Kenny said.

“What’s involved here is not social partnership as was. This is an opportunity to engage with different sectors of society but also to have the Oireachtas central to the entire proposition.

“What we’re at here is not to lose the run of ourselves just because the economy is on the way back. We’ve to manage it carefully, provide a sustainable future for everybody.”

He said the old social partnership system was not conducive to proper, effective control of the economy.

An open forum to consider pay, tax and overall spending priorities could be established by the summer under proposals from Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin.

Mr Kenny was speaking in Dublin on Wednesday morning at the announcement of 90 new jobs over three years at cloud software company LogMeIn.