LABOUR Party leader Eamon Gilmore has pointedly rejected Enda Kenny's call to suspend the national pay deal for 12 months and claimed that social partnership can get Ireland out of the bad times again, just as it did in the 1980s.

In his keynote speech at the party's national conference in Kilkenny last night, Gilmore said: "If government makes a pay agreement one week, it can't unilaterally cancel it the next. Any sensible government would reconvene the social partners and seek agreement on a new social economic plan, to see Ireland through the full recession."

The main theme of Gilmore's speech was one of talking about how "we can overcome the recession and secure a better future" rather than talk about "how bad things are".

A key part of his leadership to date has been to banish the pre-2007 general election 'Mullingar Pact' with Fine Gael, and also distance the party from Fianna Fáil. Gilmore wants to stress Labour's own strengths and make the party more than just the party who will make up the numbers with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in the next government.

Speaking about solutions for the country's current economic difficulties he said: "Fianna Fáil does not have the answer now. And neither does Fine Gael. Right-wing economics and cautious, conservative politics cannot adjust now to a global scene that has utterly changed."

Gilmore proposed that jobs can be created in the Irish economy by investing in renewable energy initiatives such as making Irish homes more energy-efficient. He announced that Labour will publish a climate change bill. He said that jobs could also be created by employing people to provide broadband across the country.

As small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle to keep afloat, Gilmore proposed that the "government cannot stand idly by" and he re-iterated Labour's proposal for a dedicated national fund to extend credit to small businesses.

He added: "I wish we could have a general election now but Fianna Fáil and their Green poodles are not about to grant our wish.

"In early June, we will all be going to the polls to vote in European and local elections. That date should not pass without the people being given the opportunity to vote in a general election to choose who should now be leading this country."