Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 16, inclusive, together.

As I previously informed the House, in late September I invited the social partners to participate in talks on a successor agreement to Sustaining Progress. I confirmed that the Government would enter the talks on the basis of our programme for Government and within the framework of the forthcoming NESC three-year strategic economic and social overview. As Deputies will be aware, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions raised a number of concerns in advance of taking any decision about entering talks. These concerns, which have surfaced in the context of specific industrial relations difficulties in recent weeks in Irish Ferries, relate to employment standards and the displacement of existing workers. I am pleased the parties involved in the Irish Ferries dispute have agreed to engage with the Labour Relations Commission along the lines recommended by the national implementation body in its statement of Sunday evening last. I hope that the intensive discussions under way will provide a basis for resolution of the particularly complex problems arising in this case.

Apart from the circumstances surrounding any individual dispute, we still face difficult challenges as a society and an economy in dealing with employment standards in a global market. In this context, I wrote to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on 21 October to communicate directly the Government's intention to engage fully and effectively in the process of devising policies and measures which would protect employment standards and prevent a so-called race to the bottom.

I view with great concern the potential social and economic implications of the displacement of workers on established conditions to be replaced in the same jobs by workers on much poorer conditions. This Government wants to see greater productivity and enhanced competitiveness based on new products and services, upskilling of staff, new work practices and technological innovation. We do not want to see people building competitive advantage based on poor wages, casualisation of labour, low health and safety standards or other poor compliance practices. This would be the wrong way to go and is unsustainable.

There has been ongoing contact with the ICTU at official level on the broad range of issues comprehended by the general term "employment standards". Naturally, I strongly support the recommendation of the national implementation body that negotiations on a new partnership agreement should commence as soon as possible. I hope that the ICTU and all the social partners will be in a position to enter into talks about a successor agreement. As yet, no date has been agreed for a formal meeting of the social partners on this issue.

While the issues raised by the Irish Ferries case are difficult, the solutions to the problems we face as an economy and a society are best found within the context of a new social partnership agreement. Only partnership offers us the degrees of stability, engagement and trust that are needed if we are to continue to modernise and improve the quality of life for citizens in a fair and sustainable way. I find it hard to imagine that any other approach would produce the sort of interlocking policy responses that will be needed to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

Since 1987, social partnership has been a process which has delivered stability and confidence for all sectors of the community, especially investors. It has created and sustained the conditions for remarkable employment growth, fiscal stability, restructuring of the economy to respond to new challenges and opportunities, a dramatic improvement in real living standards through both lower taxation and lower inflation, and a culture of dialogue which has served the social partners and, more importantly, the people very well.

I hope there will be an acceptance on all sides that the Government is willing to work with the social partners to address issues of concern such that everybody involved can recommit themselves to the partnership process. I hope this will bring about an early commencement of negotiations on a new agreement.

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