The absence of agreement between unions, Government and employer representatives on practical measures to expand the range of free and affordable public services is undermining the national response to Ireland’s cost of living crisis, according to Fórsa.

Speaking at the union’s national conference in Killarney last week, the union’s general secretary Kevin Callinan said Ireland called for intensified dialogue to improve Ireland’s ‘social wage,’ or state spending on welfare supports and public services.

"Workers in countries across the continent are paying more for heating, fuel and food. But in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and most other rich EU nations, workers don’t have to fret about the cost of childcare, an unavoidable visit to the GP or A&E, eldercare fees, or even the rent – because these things are free or affordable through a public service-delivered social wage,” he said.

Earlier last week, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) published new research on the high cost of living in Ireland. It found that Ireland was the second most expensive country in the European Union before the recent surge in inflation.

“In 2020, when the inflation rate was below zero the price of everyday goods and services was more than a third higher than the EU average. Housing costs, including utility and energy bills, were higher than anywhere else in the union – a massive 78% above average.

“Public transport was 37% more expensive. Average childcare fees for a working couple with two pre-school children were eating up a fifth of their joint income,” it found.

Moving a motion from the union’s National Executive, which placed the “restoration and improvement of living standards above all other issues in the current round of pay bargaining in the public service and elsewhere,” Kevin Callinan said Fórsa would pursue this with a “single-minded determination.”

He said he didn’t underestimate the scale of the challenge in the run-up to imminent public service pay talks. But he added that there was now a solid basis for substantial negotiations as the employers’ side had acknowledged that the inflation assumptions underpinning Building Momentum have changed significantly.

“Workers, their families, and their communities are the victims of inflation, not the cause of inflation. I have made it clear that there needs to be an improvement in the agreement’s pay terms this year,” he said.

“Part of the reason is the relatively low rate of employer PRSI. But it's also because of long-term failure to properly resource public services. There is now a chance to commence the process of transformational change. But we need to start the job with urgency and rigour, and achieve early and tangible results, because Ireland’s low social wage is feeding directly into today’s cost of living crisis.

“If this opportunity is spurned or squandered then the blame for declining living standards will rest squarely on the shoulders of this Government,” he said.