Taoiseach criticises Parlon call for pay cut

TAOISEACH BERTIE Ahern rebuked Construction Industry Federation (CIF) chief executive Tom Parlon for comments he made on pay rates in the building industry.

Mr Ahern was replying to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore who said deputies had heard Mr Parlon, a former PD minister of state, say on radio that building workers should be paid 30 per cent less.

Mr Ahern said: "Regarding what Mr Parlon, representing the CIF, said yesterday, negotiations on the social partnership in this round have started. Everybody is putting down their views.

"I do not believe in any area we should be organising to have races to the bottom. I do not think it is a good idea for any sector, but I understand negotiating positions are put forward by everybody. Some wanted a race to the top."

Mr Ahern agreed that unemployment would increase in the building industry this year. "There is no doubt about that. To go from building 80,000 houses to 55,000 houses cannot require the same number of workers," he added.

"Predominantly, it is in construction and in some of the service industries linked to construction. So unemployment will drift up."

Mr Gilmore estimated that 20,000 building workers would be out of work by the end of the year.

He said his colleague, finance spokeswoman Joan Burton, had drawn attention to the "extraordinary tax break" for developers of private hospices.

"There is quite a sad irony that we will give tax breaks to people developing private hospices for people dying of cancer in a country where finance cannot be provided to provide them with tests and services in the public health service in the first place," he added.

Mr Ahern said he was sure Mr Gilmore, like everybody else, had been lobbied by charitable groups to help them develop more hospices. "We have given tax breaks for a lot of areas over the years, and it seems not a bad idea to help those organisations," he added.

Mr Ahern claimed that there were inconsistencies when debating on the construction industry. "When we were building 80,000 houses and everybody in construction was getting enormous salaries - the highest in Europe - the developers and construction people were all bad news around here," he added.

"Now, when it tightens up a bit, everybody looks to the construction industry to pick it up."

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said they were witnessing the worst deterioration of the economy in the State's history.

Mr Ahern said that budget day forecasts, both economic and fiscal, had not been changed.

"The Tánaiste at budget time noted the internal and external risks to economic forecasts," he added. "Some of those identified risks are now emerging."