THE Progressive Democrats plan to cut 25,000 jobs in the public service over five years would not be acceptable to Fianna Fail, according to Mr Charlie McCreevy, the party's finance spokesman.
The proposal has also been rejected by the Republic's largest trade union, SIPTU, which says it is an attack on Partnership 2000.
The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste last night delivered a strong attack on the PD proposals for the public service and State companies.
In their election manifesto the PDs say jobs would not be lost in key areas such as health, education or security. But a spokesman said yesterday that only "front line" jobs, such as doctors and nurses in the health service, would be safe. There are 125,000 jobs in the public service, from which the 25,000 reductions can come, the PDs believe. The party has also supported widescale privatisation of State companies.
Speaking to journalists at the EU meeting in Noordwijk, Mr Spring called on the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, to repudiate clearly the PD privatisation proposals, which he said were a recipe for "industrial chaos". Mr Spring described the proposals to sell off "practically all of the State companies with the exception of the ESB", "to sack 25,000 public servants", "to remove the protective legislation that workers enjoy", and "to privatise the whole prison service" as "divisive and dangerous to the industrial harmony we have built up."
Mr McCreevy insisted at the publication of a Fianna Fail economic policy document yesterday that there could be no target for cuts in public service jobs.
Commenting on the PDs' call for widespread privatisation the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said his party saw the semi state sector as one of the primary engines of economic growth. Fianna Fail's focus would be on greater worker participation.
In contrast to the PDs' wait and see approach to monetary union, Mr McCreevy said that he could not foresee anything down the road which would lead Ireland into staying out of the single currency, whether or not Britain participated.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, warned that the differences between the PDs and Fianna Fail on the single currency could jeopardise Ireland's growth and low interest rate regime.
Mr Ahern, presenting an economic policy document yesterday, said the real issue in the debate was Government spending running out of control.
"Fianna Fail are determined not to let the hard won fruits of the economic sacrifices of the past be frittered away by an increasingly reckless and irresponsible Rainbow Coalition. The country simply cannot sustain a repeated annual 7 per cent increase in Government spending, or 5 per cent in real terms, without a crash landing.
According to Mr Ahern the capacity to reduce taxes would be far greater with Fianna Fail than under the Rainbow, because expenditure would be kept fully under control.