Bertie Ahern
Ceist:21 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the agenda he has set for the Government negotiators for the next national agreement. [18637/96]
Written Answers. - New National Agreement Negotiations.
Bertie Ahern
Ceist:22 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach the input which representative groups will have at the opening discussions on a new national programme; and the ongoing input these groups will have to the negotiations. [18638/96]
Bertie Ahern
Ceist:23 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the importance he attaches to the achievement of a new national agreement. [18639/96]
Bertie Ahern
Ceist:24 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach the amount of outstanding business from the Programme for Competitiveness and Work which must be carried forward to the new negotiations. [18640/96]
Joe Walsh
Ceist:25 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Taoiseach his views on a successor to the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. [18557/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 to 25 together.
The Government is of the view that social partnership and national programmes have served this country very well. Significant benefits have accrued to all members of society under social partnership. The strategy underpinned by the social consensus has secured record increases in the numbers at work, significant increases in take-home pay at all income levels, a secure basis for low inflation and low mortgage interest rates, and it has served to deepen our competitiveness, not least in securing record levels of overseas investment. For all of these reasons, the Government attaches great importance to the achievement of a further national agreement.
However, it will not be easy to reach agreement on a programme which will equip us to meet the challenges of the future. In particular, a new programme will cover the transition to a single currency which will require us to maximise our competitiveness, especially through greater flexibility in all aspects of our economic performance. The best basis for achieving this, while maintaining the stability of a coherent national programme, is to ensure that the nature and scale of the challenges we face, as analysed in the recent NESC report, are widely understood and agreed.
It is for that reason that, as I outlined last week, I envisage that the agenda and indeed the framework for the next programme, will be set by the conclusions of the NESC strategy report and the NESF opinion on a new national programme.
In relation to the other inputs that will be made to negotiations some 18 groups have been invited to participate in discussions on 23 October by outlining the priorities that they would wish to see addressed in a new national programme in the light of the NESC analysis. These groups will then be asked to elaborate on these views, bilaterally and multilaterally, as appropriate, in relation to the particular areas of interest of each group. Negotiations on pay and related matters, as I made clear last week, will continue to be dealt with by the organisations with an established role in industrial relations matters.
The Central Review Committee intends to publish in the near future a progress report outlining all that has been achieved under theProgramme for Competitiveness and Work. I anticipate that it will show that the provisions of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work have overwhelmingly been implemented. Where it is considered that there is further progress to be made, these items can be considered in the course of discussions on a new programme.