Unions, business and social sector each has own ideas for presidency, writes John Downes.
The concept of social partnership is now firmly established in Ireland as a means of allowing different voices to have their say on policy formation. But what are the hopes of some of the social partners for the upcoming Irish presidency of the EU?
"Given our experience of social partnership here, and the way that it can be shown that social development is not at variance with economic development, we would hope the Government would take the opportunity offered by its presidency of the EU to reinforce the social partnership model," says Mr Jack O'Connor, president of SIPTU, which represents more than 200,000 workers in the State.
However, he says SIPTU is concerned at what it sees as an increasing emphasis by the Government on economic liberalisation, something that has happened elsewhere in Europe, with pressure being placed on governments in countries such as France and Germany to diminish their existing social market models.
"Our government is heading in both directions," he believes. "It is paying lip-service to social partnership while at the same time drifting towards hard-headed free market fundamentals."
Mr O'Connor also believes some work remains to be done with regards to the accession of the 10 new countries to the EU on May 1st, 2004.
"It is very obvious to us that there is a wide degree of exploitation in some sectors of the Irish economy," he says. "And what would be of concern to us would be the absence of a statutory mechanism to ensure that [migrant workers\] don't become a source of cheap labour and exploitation themselves.
"I hope the Irish presidency will apply itself to the task of ensuring that workers in the accession countries have the same rights as those from the rest of the EU, and will not find themselves in their own countries being exploited as some kind of cheap labour reserved for the new economic entity."
However, Ms Maria Cronin, director of European Affairs with the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC), makes the point that, when working here at least, citizens of those countries acceding to the EU will no longer need a visa. As such, they will be in the same situation as any Irish person when looking for a job.
"I think migrant labour will continue to fill certain areas," she says. "Dealing with immigration is a new challenge for Ireland, there is no doubt about that but there are a very large number of people working on work permits here who are very happy."
One of IBEC's main priorities, she says, is to see growth and competitiveness placed firmly back on the European agenda.
"We see the presidency as a tremendous opportunity for Ireland to shape the EU agenda," she says. "The first of May is an historic event for the EU. At the end of our presidency, we will have 25 new members. The real challenge is to make that work.
"We need to create employment and provide education and training for the workforce," she believes. "We have to start paying more than lip-service to the Lisbon agenda. Our hope is that we will start to see absolute delivery on the lists of targets it has set."
IBEC also has concerns about over-regulation, she adds. The organisation believes that regulation does not protect employment per se, but that the best way to do this is through employability and life-long learning.
"Some social measures cost, and we have to be realistic and say that we can't afford them at this stage, she believes. "If we grow the economy, then we will have the money to invest in social measures But where the money is going to be generated from has to be considered."
Fr Sean Healy of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), however, believes that much EU policy has emphasised the economic dimension at the expense of the social dimension. People sometimes forget, he says, that the Lisbon strategy also has specific commitments to dealing with social exclusion.
"The social aspect has been marked by aspiration and rhetoric rather than implementation and delivery," he believes. "The economic dimension has always held sway, so within that context, the Lisbon strategy is certainly a step in the right direction if they [the Government\] are serious about delivering on the Lisbon strategy, then they should be giving the social aspect equal prevalence with the economic.
"I would like to see the elimination of poverty adopted as one of the objectives of the EU."
Fr Healy also believes that the development of a rights-based approach in the social field is to be encouraged, while pointing out that it is important to ensure that these rights are also delivered upon.
The opinions above provide some indication of the different hopes and expectations among the social partners for the upcoming presidency. Determining the relative success or failure of that presidency will, however, clearly depends on one's point of view.