ISME, the small firms lobby group, will take part in the negotiations to secure a fourth national wage agreement to replace the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, which runs out at the end of this year.

The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, has written to the association to say a mechanism will be developed to allow groups like ISME to make contributions to any new agreement in areas of relevance to their members.

ISME welcomed the announcement but says it will wait to see the structure before "giving its final approval".

"The association expects nothing less than equal treatment as that afforded to the currently limited social partnership structure which excludes the SME sector," the association director, Mr Frank Mulcahy, told a meeting of the organisation in Castlebar, Co Mayo last night.