THE GOVERNMENT has been strongly criticised by some of the social partners over a failure to implement several commitments set out in the current national agreement, Towards 2016. MARTIN WALL, Industry Correspondent, reports.
The director of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori) Justice, Fr Seán Healy, said he would call into question the Government because of the non-implementation of key commitments.
Fr Healy said these included the provision of funding for 300 primary care teams.
He also said the Government had failed to provide adequate funding for the mental health strategy, to deliver the National Carers Strategy and to make progress on resourcing those who had not previously pursued third-level education.
Fr Healy said targets adopted in other national strategies had been hugely at odds with the commitments contained in Towards 2106.
He said these included setting a target for adult literacy in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion "which accepts as okay that between a third and half a million people in the labour force will have serious literacy difficulties in 2016".
Fr Healy added: "Major commitments on social issues in areas such as primary healthcare teams and adult literacy have not been honoured."
In a submission presented to the talks yesterday Ictu also criticised the failure to implement some of the provisions of Towards 2016 - particularly in areas such as childcare and education.
It said the progress made to date in achieving the vision and objectives of the section of the agreement on education and learning was unsatisfactory.
"The agreement reiterates the Government's commitment to reducing the pupil/teacher ratio. Congress is disappointed that insufficient progress has been made to recruit the additional class teachers required to reduce class sizes and notes that, at this point, the employment of the 4,000 teachers promised will do little more than meet increased enrolments in primary schools and will not reduce class sizes.
"The agreement stated specifically that the number of children per classroom teacher would be reduced by the beginning of the 2007 academic year. Government recently confirmed that there will be no change this school year, meaning that this commitment cannot now be met", it said.
Ictu also said it believed the strategy and action to date on childcare were insufficient to provide the basis for an infrastructure of quality childcare and development that was accessible and affordable.
It also expressed disappointment that decision-making in relation to pension policy had been postponed to allow for a new consultation process.