A call for corporation tax to be increased as part of a new social partnership deal has been dismissed as "nonsense" by the employers' body, IBEC.
The call was made by CORI, the Conference of Religious in Ireland. The group said the move should be considered along with the introduction of taxes on activities including land rent and financial speculation.
It said an increase in taxes would be necessary if the Republic was ever to have EU levels of infrastructure and social provision.
The call drew an angry response from IBEC, whose director of industrial relations, Mr Brendan McGinty, said it was "quite frankly typical of some of the nonsense we have come to expect from CORI".
Mr McGinty said many of the 700,000 jobs created in the economy over the past 10 years were a result of the State's corporation tax levels.
Much of the foreign direct investment made over that time was due to the corporation tax policy and the expectation that it would continue.
The Government was committed to lowering the corporation tax rate to 12.5 per cent, "and we see that as being necessary to sustain jobs into the future", he said.
IBEC had previously made the point that social provision could be improved by getting increased value-for-money from public expenditure. The problem was not lack of spend but how existing resources were used, he said.
CORI, as a member of the "community and voluntary pillar", will be a participant with IBEC in the social partnership talks beginning in Dublin tomorrow.
The wide gap between the two on taxation is indicative of the difficulties ahead in agreeing a new social partnership deal to succeed the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
A further indication was provided yesterday by the general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, Mr John Carr, who said the talks would be "going nowhere" unless the wage increases recommended by the benchmarking body were paid on time.
He claimed attempts were being made to "soften up" workers with "can't-pay-won't-pay" arguments by IBEC and the Government.
