Fianna Fail is causing division and conflict by forcing through controversial budget plans slashing public spending, the Labour Party claims.

Leader Eamon Gilmore said the senior coalition party was determined to pit the private and public sectors against each other and see certain workers demonised.

Accepting the need for the Government's projected four billion euro savings, the Labour chief said he would be tabling alternative proposals to kick-start the economy.

Mr Gilmore said: "The Fianna Fail approach is simple - it's called beggar my neighbour. They have chosen to sow division and to engender conflict.

"To set private sector against public sector, employed against unemployed. To identify particular groups in society, to demonise them, and to target them."

As the country braces itself for a potentially crippling one-day national strike later in the month over cuts to pay and services, Mr Gilmore said the Government must acknowledge that workers have already suffered wage reductions.

"I can tell you now, that if, in bad times, you walk all over people, if you trample them down rather than negotiate with them, then, in better times, they will get their own back," he said.

Mr Gilmore unveiled five alternative proposals to kick-start the economy, including a coherent jobs strategy and a guarantee that people having difficulty repaying their mortgages will not lose their homes in the recession.

At the Fianna Fail national youth conference in Co Donegal, Mr Cowen said opposition parties would have the chance to outline their proposals at a pre-Budget outlook in the Dail next week.

The Taoiseach said alternative proposals put forward by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Mr Gilmore lacked detail.