Siptu's Dublin regional president has criticised the Government and opposition parties for the current state of the public sector, launching an attack against recent calls for job cuts in the public sector, the two-tier health system and the recent Budget.
Addressing the union's conference in the Mansion House this afternoon, Jack McGinleycalled on union members to resist attempts to outsource traditional services provided by the public sector.
"We have to defend our pay and conditions but we have a duty of care to make sure that services paid for out of the public purse by Sean & Mary Citizen are delivered at the highest quality, with the greatest speed, and during increased opening hours so that we meet standards being delivered by competing interests in the private sector operators or we will find ourselves with a shrinking share of the work," he said.
Mr McGinley warned that the recent attacks on the pay and conditions of public sector staff were also affecting the private sector.
"The virulent attacks on Defined Benefit Pension Schemes by certain banks and finance houses have also been transferred to Public utilities such as RTE and the DAA," he said.
"However strong action by members within these employments have forced the concession of hybrid schemes which encompass a strong base of defined benefit."
He said working people would have to win the campaign to save health services from privatisation, and criticised current Minister for Health Mary Harney's political ideology.
"She is still intent on imposing co-location of private hospitals on public hospital sites, post mortality tax on the aged in return for nursing home care and the roll-out of new GP practice units in collaboration with the private sector," he said.
Mr McGinley also expressed concern about recent measures in the Budget, calling them as "mean spirited".
"The two tiered health system is alive and well – services for those who can pay in a matter of a few days – for the rest of us a waiting list of months if not years. This week's savage budget has seen a further blight on the Health Service with the upping of the cost of A&E visits to €100, the abolition of medical cards for many over seventies and other mean spirited increases on drugs and treatments."
The Opposition parties didn't escape unscathed, with Mr McGinley describing Fine Gael's Richard Bruton and Enda Kenny as "pro-competition, outsourcing and pro-regulation". He also hit out at Fine Gael party member Leo Varadker.
"Bad and all as they are, their baby rottweiler in the shape of Leo Varadker spewing his bile on a weekly basis is a further burden we have to listen to. Fine Gael clearly knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing," he said.
Former Labour party leader Ruairi Quinn also came in for some strong criticism, with Mr McGinley describing his recent comments on public servants taking a pay cut as "derisory, ill informed rhetoric". "He got it wrong on Lisbon and He has got it wrong on public services," he said.