The Taoiseach has said he is confident a new partnership agreement can be agreed for the early years of the new millennium to replace Partnership 2000, which expires in March next year.
As the Government prepares for an intense series of talks in the autumn on medium-term social and economic planning, Mr Ahern chose yesterday's plenary meeting of the social partners at Dublin Castle to list the attractions of a new partnership deal.
The pay moderation that comes with social partnership has been a key to the State's economic growth, and Mr Ahern, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the employers' organisation, IBEC, all emphasised the competitiveness Irish business has gained through pay restraint.
However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions indicated it will have a substantial non-pay shopping list for any new deal. ICTU will hold a conference on November 4th to decide whether to take part in talks on a new deal.
The ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, yesterday called for a much more ambitious National Development Plan than is currently envisaged, a tax-cutting package to benefit the low-paid and substantial measures to combat social inequality.
In his address to union, employer and farmer representatives yesterday, Mr Ahern said just "a few lone voices" dissented from the view that partnership agreements had worked very well in Ireland.
September will see discussions between Government, employers and unions on the formulation of the National Development Plan, as well as talks between Ministers on a revised Programme for Government and a tax-cutting and reform package for the December budget. Discussions on a new social partnership agreement may begin in November.
Mr Ahern said: "For the first time in our history we are virtually the masters of our own destiny. We have the capacity to realise aspirations which were once the stuff of pipe dreams.
"We can achieve this only by continuing to pool together the skills, creativity and shared effort that have brought us this far on the road to a new Ireland."
However, Mr McCreevy warned that although the Government would like a new partnership agreement, it would not accept such an agreement at any cost. He warned against pay rises that could damage competitiveness and said the present discussions on public service pay would raise difficult issues for the unions.
Mr McCreevy warned that despite the favourable economic conditions, the Government must continue to run substantial budget surpluses. He said demands for extra spending must be tempered by four realities: we must leave room for fiscal policy to respond to a downturn in economic growth; we must avoid adding unduly to domestic demand, which would cause inflation and "overheating" of the economy; we should reduce the national debt while funds are available; and we should look ahead to the changing population structure, making allowance for the pension burden when the population gets older.
He said substantial sums must be spent on improving infrastructure through the National Development Plan.
He added that despite the economic success, pay rises must be curtailed if the economy was to remain competitive.
IBEC joined enthusiastically in the calls for pay restraint, warning against "unreal expectations".
It called for the continuation of the process of privatisation in the semi-State sector and said business would continue to grow if there was greater investment in transport and communications.
The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association, Mr Frank Allen, said farmers would not accept a new Partnership deal if farm incomes were cut as the economy continued to grow.
Predicting major downward pressure of farm incomes during the next eight years of the Common Agricultural Policy, he said: "There must be a balanced sharing of the fruits of economic success."
A Fianna Fail backbencher, Mr Conor Lenihan, said: "There are sound economic reasons for restraint on the tax-cutting front, and the Minister is correct to begin this debate in cautious terms rather than promise a tax-cutting bonanza", he said.
Labour's finance spokesman, Mr Derek McDowell, said if workers were to be persuaded to accept further pay moderation "they will need to be reassured that issues that concern them other than pay - issues like housing, traffic and the inadequacies in basic social services - will be tackled".