Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach his plans to transfer responsibility for the National Economic and Social Development Office Act 2006 from his Department to another Department of State; if the National Economic and Social Development Office (Amendment) Bill under preparation and referenced in the Government legislation programme proposes to effect such a transfer of responsibilities to another Department; if not, if his statutory responsibilities in relation to social partnership, as set out in that Act, will remain with him; if questions regarding social partnership are accordingly properly addressed to him; and his plans to further develop relations with the social partners in the context of his statutory responsibilities. [5690/17]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The National Economic and Social Development Office, NESDO, comes under the aegis of my Department and there are no plans to change this. The NESDO is the corporate body of the National Economic and Social Council. The function of the council is to analyse and report to the Taoiseach on strategic issues relating to the efficient development of the economy and the achievement of social justice and the development of a strategic framework for the conduct of relations and the negotiation of agreements between the Government and social partners. NESC has offered a valuable combination of economic, social, environmental and institutional perspectives that are necessary for good policy making.

I last appointed the council in 2011 and the five-year term has expired. At the moment my Department is assessing the arrangements that will work best for a new council. As part of the considerations the Secretary General of my Department wrote to members of the outgoing council seeking views and suggestions on the future role and work programme of a council in advance of a plenary discussion held on 17 November last. The meeting provided the opportunity for the council to reflect on its work to date, and to discuss its views on the best arrangements for the council and its future work programme in a changing policy landscape. It is important that we have the best arrangements in place and I expect that these will be finalised shortly.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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From the Taoiseach's reply and one I received to a similar question previously I am not sure his heart is in this process. Perhaps it hearkens back to a different time and while the idea of social partnership might be a loaded concept now but it is a relevant one and an important one still.

We have already reached a period of some considerable industrial disputes. Tesco workers are on strike today. In the public sector nurses and teachers are about to go on strike and in the semi-State sector there is the possibility of bus drivers going on strike, and there are others. In that context does the Taoiseach think we need to have some restoration of a mechanism for social dialogue? I refer in particular to the old employer-labour conference concept, which was a final appeal mechanism when intractable disputes could not be resolved and representatives of labour and employers could knock heads together, as it were. The mechanism has worked very effectively in the past. When people run out of space sometimes one needs a third-party mechanism to enable intervention. In the context of what we are probably facing into in the coming months in both the public and private spheres we need to be alert to the need for mechanisms that can defuse disputes before they do serious damage to the well-being of our people and to our economic well-being.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Howlin has raised a very important point. He knows from his own experience the importance of being able to deal with issues in advance. Clearly there are concerns in respect of rail workers, bus workers, some teachers, nurses and staff in the medical profession other than nurses. The business of public pay in general is being considered by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

We have had a number of interventions both from unions and business to have discussions about the perspective that lies ahead. Without returning to social partnership, as was, or the employer-labour conference, we are putting in place a mechanism by which people can come and discuss forthcoming issues in a forum that is not a decision-making process but would give the Government a clear indication of their views so that issues do not become siloed. One can have a general discussion about the issues that affect people and the impact they will have on them. As Deputy Howlin is well aware, discussions are about to begin in respect of Brexit and the negotiations that will take place once Article 50 is moved. Unions and employers across a range of sector have turned up at meetings on the issue around the country to give their views, both North and South. The second all-island forum is on Friday of this week in Dublin Castle. I suppose Deputy Howlin will attend it. That is the facility we have in place now and I hope it will continue to prove beneficial without going back to the old social partnership concept of the past.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There is a clear need to restructure various bodies that grew up along with the previous approach to social partnership. What is not clear is where in government leadership will come from in this area because we are seeing more and more examples of strife and conflict in the public service concerning both service provision and remuneration. The Government is making it up as it goes along, and that is taking a charitable view. Before Christmas there was the Garda dispute and the Labour Court intervention was a catalyst for bringing forward the Lansdowne Road pay agreement. There is the transport dispute with Bus Éireann. There is also the health dispute involving nurses and now general care staff are looking for concessions. That is a huge worry for people given the prospect of industrial action in hospitals.

In previous times there was a social partnership framework and since the crash it is a concept that dare not speak its name. When one talks to people either in the public service or elsewhere there seems to be a general lament and longing for some framework, forum or dialogue on a consistent and ongoing basis so as to have a greater vision and sense of a collective approach to the future of the country and society. It seems that the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater, so to speak, in terms of the concept of social partnership. I do not say we should go back to it, as it is clear there were errors and mistakes made in previous iterations of it, but given what Deputy Howlin raised in his question on the NESDO it seems there is relevance in terms of what structures we have nationally to facilitate the pursuit of common ideals between partners in society, namely, the trade union movement, farmers, the community and voluntary pillar and the Oireachtas. That absence is contributing to a vacuum which, in turn, is lending itself to periodic and episodic bouts of conflict and industrial disputes, one leapfrogging another and there is a real danger the situation will spin out of control in terms of the public service. The Taoiseach might indicate what he intends to do in the coming weeks to try to prevent the escalation of industrial conflict.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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4 o’clock

There was a review of NESC and NESDO in 2012. The review concluded that NESC continued to provide an important forum for discussing social, economic and environmental issues on a multilateral basis across a number of sectors. A number of other fora exist for engagement such as the National Economic Dialogue, the new Labour Employer Economic Forum, the Climate Change Advisory Council and the Social Inclusion Forum. NESC remains the only forum where national economic, social, environmental and institutional views can engage and interact. These other fora or opportunities are also important. In particular, I hope that the Labour Employer Economic Forum will prove to be somewhat beneficial for discussions of this nature.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has been very careful in his assessment of the range of services for public service for the time ahead in order to put in place a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement. I regret that the ASTI executive was not in a position to recommend acceptance of the improved offer in respect of Lansdowne Road to teachers. The Garda dispute went before the Labour Court and that matter has been attended to. Clearly, there are issues about whether capacity to strike will be considered in terms of the legislation. These are important elements.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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This all boils down to how we engage with the social partners. Our little discussion about the north inner city shows the merits of proper engagement with the community and voluntary sector based on equality. We have the same thing in terms of our farmers and rural communities. The Taoiseach has acknowledged the economic crisis presented by Brexit and the fact we are facing major strikes, one of which is in the health service. There is strike at Tesco where the employer is trying to force a section of the workforce to accept a new contract which would give these workers inferior terms and conditions. There is a threatened strike at Bus Éireann. God knows what might present. We know these workers only take up this action because they feel they have no other options. The statutory responsibility for social partnership rests with the Taoiseach. How does he manage? How does he structure these relations with the social partners? The issue of demolishing NESDO goes back to 2013. To my knowledge, we do not even have a date for when these matters will be debated here. Could the Taoiseach tell us how he manages relationships with these sectors in a structural way and when the process of scrapping NESDO will be completed?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The NESDO legislation is in draft form. It is on the legislative programme. Is it intended to transfer responsibility for answering questions on social partnership to another Minister or will the Taoiseach retain it?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will recall that the Government decided in 2012 to dissolve NESDO and place NESC on a statutory footing. All Ministers engage in dialogue on these matters. Formal structures in place include the National Economic Dialogue, the Labour Employer Economic Forum, the Climate Change Advisory Council and the Social Inclusion Forum. The role of NESC needs to be assessed in light of these arrangements. In addition to these structures, we now have the national risk assessment process. We have just published the national risk assessment for 2016, which identifies the strategic risks in the economic, environmental, geopolitical, social and technological areas. The programme for Government also points to the need for longer term planning, specifically citing areas like housing, broadband, climate change, pensions and long-term funding models in higher education and health. The question of pensions was raised earlier today. We need to find a way to bring all these elements together in a coherent fashion and to tap into the knowledge and expertise that is out there regardless of whether it lies with academic experience or other experience. I did not set a specific timeline for the completion of the assessment process. A great deal of work is being carried out by the Department and this work will, hopefully, come to a conclusion soon. I will return to the House in respect of this issue.