ICTU CONFERENCE:THE RECESSION cannot and must not be used as an excuse to drive down the terms and conditions of employment for ordinary workers, the North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said.
Addressing the biennial delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) in Tralee yesterday, he said ordinary workers could not be asked to pay the heaviest price for a crisis not of their making.
He added that the fragile nature of the economy validated the decision of the Executive at Stormont to make the economy its top priority.
“The Executive agreed a package of measures in December, which were designed to protect people from the worst effects of the recession. The package included energy and fuel poverty measures such as maintaining investment in energy efficiency in domestic houses and providing £15 million to help the most vulnerable to fuel poverty. More than 100,000 households on pension credit and income support received £150,” he said
Mr McGuinness said that the underlying assumptions about growth and managing the economy, North and South, had failed.
“We are not facing a natural disaster, our economy has not been brought to its knees by a force of nature. This economic disaster has been global and man-made. And our small island, our families and our communities are bearing the brunt.”
“We need to look at how we get out of this recession. We need additional measures – measures which are proactive,” he said.
Mr McGuinness said the partnership between Ministers and the administrations North and South “will play a part in helping us to turn the corner”. He praised the Irish Government’s investment in road projects in Northern Ireland. However, Mr McGuinness expressed concern about the potential effects of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
He told journalists at the conference that this concern centred around assets in Northern Ireland which, if not handled carefully, could create huge difficulties for the property market there.
However, he said that he had had a useful discussion with both the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan at a North/South ministerial meeting last Monday.
He said the Government was behaving very responsibly in how this was dealt with.
“We took a decision that the two finance ministers on the island would meet and come back with a report,” he said.
Meanwhile, the incoming general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation told the conference that the recommendations arising from the recent Ryan report on child abuse had to be “recession proof”.
Sheila Nunan said that the economic woes of the country must not be used as an excuse by the Government for failing to act.
She said that the full and uniform implementation of the Children First guidelines in all schools would require training for all teachers, boards of management and others working with children.
“This must be pursued by the Department of Education and Science as a matter of urgency,” she said. However, Ms Nunan said there were real fears that the required training for teachers would not be delivered.
“If plans to cutback on teacher training are implemented then child safety could be put in jeopardy,” said Ms Nunan. She said the Department of Education must resist calls for cutbacks that would drastically reduce the number of teacher trainers.
“Teachers need to be trained to recognise the signs of abuse. They must be trained to report abuse properly,” Ms Nunan said.