Government priorities for seventh successive national programme

The Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Bertie Ahern, recently outlined his Government’s key priorities for a seventh successive social partnership agreement when talks begin towards the end of this year on expiry of the current three-year national agreement, Sustaining Progress.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern said there were a number of areas that he would like to see the social partners examine at the National Economic & Social Council (NESC), 'in the context of the strategy report, which ahs traditionally informed the background to our talks'. The NESC, a body made-up of the social partners, issues an economic and social report every three years that sets the context for talks on Ireland’s social partnership agreements, which commenced in 1987.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was speaking at the annual IRN conference on February 24, 2005, an occasion he used to mark the 25th anniversary of the weekly independent magazine, Industrial Relations News (IRN), which was first published in July 1979.

Mr Ahern said he would like the partners, working in the NESC, 'to update their shared understanding of Ireland’s current economic and social situation and the vulnerabilities of our model of development. A shared understanding of key mechanisms in the economy and society has been the basis upon which successful partnership agreements have been built.'

Mr Ahern said the analysis needs to take account of the pressure of globalisation, the increasing role of services, the implications of migration and the role of productivity in supporting living standards. He said it also needs to clarify ways in which economic progress and policy change can further reduce poverty and inequality, and create a sustainable system of social protection.

Mr Ahern said he would like the social partners to focus on ways to maintain business development in a new context. 'I would like them to focus on how we can cerate a truly 'developmental welfare state' that supports our aspiration for a high performance economy and an inclusive society. This requires that we enhance our services and cerate effective systems for early childhood development, training and care of the elderly.'

'Finally, I would like to identify the part that they must play - in business, the public services and in partnership itself - in implementing policies that can achieve their well-defined goals for the economy and society.'

The Taoiseach played a pivotal role in negotiating the first of the modern programmes in 1987 (Programme for National Recovery), has been directly involved in five of the six programmes since that time.

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