Fine Gael has this evening called for a public sector wage freeze until 2010.
The opposition party also said it believes that any proposed wage cuts should only apply to workers earning more than €100,000.
Speculation is mounting that the Government may try to enforce wage cuts or lay-offs in the public sector to save €2 billion this year.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said that an introducing a pay freeze across the public sector which would extend to the end of 2010 would result in €1.5 billion euro in Exchequer savings.
Last November, the party claimed at its national conference that the Exchequer could not afford the current national wage agreement which promises 6 per cent in staggered pay rises.
Speaking after a meeting of the Fine Gael front bench in Maynooth Co Kildare today, Mr Kenny warned the Government that it would get 'no political absolution' from Fine Gael for its mismanagement of the economy.
"They deliberately and consciously walked this Government into the economic morass we now find ourselves in," he said.
"This is the Government that is politically bankrupt, morally bankrupt and is now financially bankrupting our country."
"We are now losing the equivalent of 'five Dells' every month.
Mr Kenny also claimed that Department of Finance estimates were wrong by €2 million over a four-week period.
"That's €500 million a week. You can't believe a word out of this Government's mouth," he said.
"We are not going to make money in this country by simply selling houses to each other. We have to get back our competitiveness and become cost effective again," he added.
PA