The incoming general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions told yesterday's meeting between the Government and social partners that much work was needed to achieve long-term prosperity and a competitive economy as well as a more equal society.
Mr David Begg, ICTU's general secretary-designate, praised the "very significant achievements" since 1994 in reducing unemployment and increasing real Gross National Product.
However, he pointed to two recent studies highlighting growing relative income gaps and widening inequality.
Yesterday's annual meeting between Government Ministers and officials with representatives of the four pillars of social partnership reviewed progress under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. It focused on competitiveness, housing and waste management.
The four pillars are employers, trade unions, farmers and the community and voluntary sector. Speaking outside the meeting, Mr Begg praised "extraordinary progress in terms of employment generation"
"On the other hand it is also a fact that two recent reports . . . have shown there is a widening gap between rich and poor in Irish society. To some extent that's actually a product of success," he said.
"Nevertheless, any lack of social cohesion has to be worried about. It is damaging. It has to be corrected, otherwise the legacy of these [national] agreements will be that we didn't succeed in achieving what we wanted, which was to put Ireland on a par with countries of Europe such as Denmark where there is a much wider measure of social cohesion and a much narrower gap between the rich and poor in society," Mr Begg went on.
"We have to achieve that as much as we have to achieve the creation of wealth. Now we have solved the creation-of-wealth problem to some extent, we have to ensure that it's fairly distributed."
The community and voluntary sector emphasised the need for the revised National Anti-Poverty Strategy next November to include clear and ambitious targets to reduce income inequalities.
Speaking after the meeting, the Irish Home Builders Association said demand for housing remained strong but house-buyers should not defer buying.