THE Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, has made a strongly worded appeal for pay restraint, warning that economic growth cannot continue at the rapid pace recorded over the past couple of years.
The economy was bound to slow after a strong recovery, he said. "It is very important to recognise that the growth rate we have enjoyed in the last two years can't go on forever.
Speaking as the Government faces industrial unrest on a number of fronts and amid doubts over the prospects for a new national pay programme, Mr Bruton said that, in certain industrial relations situations, "expectations were too much beyond reality".
The Taoiseach's comments were made in advance of the publication yesterday afternoon of the unemployment figures for last month, which rose by 3,000 to 281,800 in seasonally adjusted terms, drawing strong Opposition criticism of Government policy.
He was speaking at the opening of the new Dublin offices of accountants Coopers and Lybrand.
In an apparent attempt to dampen calls for large pay increases, Mr Bruton pointed to the benefits of lower interest rates, increased child benefit and the phasing out of university fees.
Average mortgage repayments were approximately £100 to £130 per month less now than had been the case five years ago. Such factors represented a reduction of between £2,000 and £3,000 in the amount of money people had to find at the end of each year.
Mr Bruton urged people to give consideration to what was reasonable and sustainable. "Or should we put it at risk by demanding pay increases that might undermine the conditions that have made it possible for all these good things to happen?"
He again emphasised the Government's determination to qualify for European Economic and Monetary Union, saying that great benefits would flow from being part of EMU from the beginning. But this would only be possible if inflation and wage increases were kept in line with reality, as opposed to a "wished for reality".
Mr Bruton said that the economy's recent strong performance, during which growth had risen to between 6 and 7 per cent, represented a recovery when compared to the low level of growth in preceding years.
He said that the last two years had been a period of "compensation" for previous slow growth, but this could not be projected forward. It was the task of the Government in the forthcoming talks with the social partners to get expectations back into alignment with reality."
"To an extent, people have seen things go very well for the last year, and they now believe that, without any further effort, things must go twice as well next year, and four times as well the following year, and therefore money is growing on trees for everything."
He said that employees and employers shared a responsibility to maintain the current strong economic performance.