Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has said that if social partnership is to retain its legitimacy, increasing concerns about the growing democratic deficit in the process have to be addressed.
In a speech in Ballina yesterday, Mr Kenny said that through the ever-widening remit of social partnership, successive Fianna Fáil-led governments had bypassed troublesome elected representatives in Dáil Éireann and created an entirely new, parallel and more pliable system of policy formation.
He said that in the most recent national agreement, Towards 2016, the Government made commitments on almost every area of public policy, from transport, energy and telecoms to overseas aid, sports and the environment.
However, Mr Kenny said the deal had never been put to the Oireachtas for debate or approval. Neither had the Oireachtas any role in setting the agenda for the talks.
Talks on a new national pay deal, which forms part of the social partnership process, are due to begin in February.
Mr Kenny asked if it was right that "an unelected member of Ibec or the Congress of Trade Unions has a greater influence over key areas of public policy than public representatives? From where do the agreements derive their legitimacy? Where are the voices of the consumer, the family, the small business, the environmentalists and civil society?"
Mr Kenny said social partnership in future had to be based around a relationship between the Oireachtas, which represented broad civil society, and the individual sectional interests.
The Government should precede each new round of partnership talks with the adoption by the Dáil of a motion outlining the key challenges to be addressed, he said.
It should also make the process more transparent and subject to the appropriate Oireachtas committee and broaden the structures to provide a voice for consumers, small businesses, users of public services, parents and families, and for environmental protection, he argued.
Mr Kenny also said the public-sector benchmarking process, which examines pay rates for public servants by comparison with the private sector, should be conducted in a more transparent fashion.
"There is no doubt that social partnership has played a vital role in Ireland's transformation, but its current structures and working methods do not lend themselves to solving the challenges that we face over the next decade," he said.
Mr Kenny said that in addition to dealing with the democratic deficit, the Government would also have to accelerate public-sector improvement and restore export-driven growth through wage moderation and economic reform.
"While social partnership has helped to create a world-class economy in Ireland over the last 15 years, we cannot say the same about its role in public services.
"The difficulties in sorting out the driving test fiasco, the 1970s-style demarcation disputes over who can change light bulbs in public hospitals and difficulties introducing new bus routes in Dublin are all symptomatic of a public service that, across large parts, remains resistant to change."
He said a challenging agenda of public-service reform needed to be placed at the centre of the next round of social partnership negotiations.
Mr Kenny said that maintaining competitiveness while ensuring a fair sharing of the fruits of economic growth was the bread and butter of social partnership.
However, he said that since 2000, Irish cost competitiveness had deteriorated by 30 per cent and the country's share in world trade had declined by a quarter.
However, he said the Government had lost all credibility in calling for pay restraint following its decision to accept large increases for Ministers.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said earlier this month that talks on a new partnership deal would get under way in February.