The scene was set for negotiations on a national agreement to replace Partnership 2000 yesterday when the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, addressed the biannual conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Killarney. Securing agreement between the social partners would not be easy, he conceded, but such a development was vital to safeguard the future economic and social well-being of citizens.
After twelve years of social partnership and unprecedented economic growth, few would quibble with the benefits such agreements have brought to the State, even though they might challenge the manner in which prosperity has been shared. Looking back to 1987, the Taoiseach listed some of the main economic changes: a reduction in the national debt from 125 per cent to 52 per cent of GNP ; a fall in unemployment levels from 17 per cent to six per cent; an increase in the number of people at work by nearly half-a-million; a current budget surplus of £2 billion last year, compared to a deficit of £1 billion twelve years ago; an 80 per cent increase in real expenditure on health care and higher standards of living all around. It was, Mr Ahern said, a long way from "the grim old days of mass emigration, spiralling unemployment, stagnant growth, fiscal crisis and general defeatism."
The Taoiseach is playing a long game. And he was facilitated - as was the director general of IBEC, Mr John Dunne, on Wednesday - in setting the tone for negotiations with the trade union movement that will run through the autumn and into next year. As Mr Ahern observed: "Without the positive, disciplined and enlightened engagement of the ICTU and the trade union movement generally, there would have been no social partnership and the Irish people would have been denied the consequent transformation in our economic conditions." Partnership and social solidarity is a two-way street. And there is more to life than work or economic growth. The quality of life , which is predicated on high standards of public services and a just and caring society, must be protected. In that regard, Mr Ahern promised action on affordable housing, improved public transport and child care facilities. And he spoke of extending partnership initiatives and gain-sharing for employees within both the public and private sectors.
The building blocks for a new national agreement are likely to emerge from a number of unrelated events. In that regard, the Taoiseach invited ICTU to participate in setting spending priorities for a new National Development Plan, which will be submitted to Brussels in the autumn. And he suggested next year's Budget and various taxation changes could contribute to a climate in which public service changes might be achieved. It was a cautious and preliminary negotiating approach based on a number of key principles: the need for a shared understanding between employers and employees, the importance of developing a more equal and caring society and the need for competitiveness. Replacing traditional trade union/employer confrontation with co-operation marked the genesis of the current, dynamic economic cycle. It is a fact we cannot afford to forget.