Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 90: To ask the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the participation of environmental groups in social partnership. [7907/08]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government commits that "arrangements for representation of environmental issues in Social Partnership will be considered in the course of the review of Towards 2016 which will take place in 2008".

Any change to the structure of Social Partnership must be carefully considered and the Government has previously identified clear and specific criteria against which applications to join the social partnership process are considered.

These include that organisations requesting social partner status be national and representative in nature; that they have the capacity to meet the demands and obligations that arise as part of this participation; and that they will add to the capacity of the social partnership process to address issues effectively. In addition, any organisations would be required to formally endorse the Towards 2016 Agreement.

At the most recent Social Partnership Plenary meeting on 15 February in Dublin Castle, I formally invited the Social Partners to engage in a review of Towards 2016 and a copy of my speech is available in the Oireachtas library. The issue of environmental representation in social partnership will be considered further during this review in consultation with the Social Partners.