The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has told employers they must move from debate to action on gain-sharing deals for their workers. He has also told the public-service unions that if they want gain-sharing in the public sector it must be based on performance rather than "historic relativities".
Mr Ahern was speaking at the formal opening of talks at Government Buildings yesterday on a successor to Partnership 2000. He told representatives of the employers, trade unions, farmers and the voluntary and community sector, that "the Government is in absolutely no doubt that a new social partnership agreement is in the best interests of all our people".
It had delivered in terms of "jobs and living standards, investment and profitability". However, he accepted that "poverty and social exclusion are still a stark reality for many". Even for those at work, the "feel-good factor" had been diminished by "the price of housing, the length of time it takes to get to work, the lack of affordable childcare" and "a sense of insecurity which many feel as a result of the pace of technological change".
Inevitably, it was on the pay issue that he made his key remarks. "Our task it to create an approach to pay which is realistic and sustainable . . . That is why the Government believes that a realistic approach to pay and taxation together, as well as a process to move the whole gain-sharing approach from generalised debate to generalised action, will be important elements of a new partnership agreement.
"This has particular implications for the public service", he said. "Public servants deserve to be properly rewarded for their efforts. However it is increasingly clear that this cannot be done by a continuation of past patterns and practices."
Mr Ahern accepted that it would "require particular effort and imagination. It will require replacing the historic relativities with reward for performance."
After the meeting, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells, welcomed the Taoiseach's comments and said he felt "the Taoiseach was closer to our views of what the process was about".
Irish Business and Employers Confederation director, Mr Brian Geoghegan, said that tackling infrastructural deficits, labour market shortages and social inclusion were priorities.
Whatever the unions might say about addressing other issues first, pay would have to be on table from the beginning, he added.