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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 14 Oct 1998

Vol. 495 No. 2

Written Answers. - National Centre for Partnership.

Ruairí Quinn

Ceist:

22 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the work undertaken by the National Centre for Partnership in the last six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18444/98]

As the Deputy will be aware from the briefings I gave the House on the work of the centre on 11 March, 6 May and 23 June last, the National Centre for Partnership has been actively engaged in pursuing its work programme in both the private and public sectors and this has continued over the last six months. In the private sector, the centre has initiated a series of regional seminars on the topic of partnership at enterprise level. The first was held in UCD in early June and further seminars are scheduled for Cork and Galway this month. The seminar is targeted at senior management, union officials and other parties with interest in the topic. Both IBEC and ICTU are active participants in the seminars and the feedback from the initial seminar has been positive.

The joint IBEC/ICTU project — Partnership in Action at Enterprise Level (PACT) — under the EU ADAPT initiative has commenced. Under the project, eight teams have been established on a regional basis made up of management and employee representatives from selected companies, an IBEC executive and a trade union official. The teams are assessing and surveying their own needs and the needs of the companies involved in order to develop enterprise partnership. The project will run to the end of 1999, with the objective that the teams will act as catalysts and facilitators for other enterprises in their region. The centre is liaising with the co-ordinators of the project in order to learn from the experience and disseminate the information.
The centre has established a computer database containing details on either multi-stranded or single partnership issues existing in enterprises with the intention of monitoring existing developments and expanding as more details emergevia surveys, direct contact and other sources of information available to the centre. The identification of a number of enterprises on a cross-sectoral basis where partnership topics are being successfully practised will be made easier with access to this database. It is intended that suitable enterprises will be documented and video taped with a view to disseminating their experiences and shortening the learning curve of other enterprises on the partnership path.
With regard to the public sector, a series of regional seminars have been arranged for the Civil Service, local government and health sectors. These seminars commence in Sligo on 20 October and will run in Galway, Cork and Dublin, finishing on 18 November. The Irish Productivity Centre is assisting in the organisation and delivery of the seminars. The audience will consist of management, union and staff representatives with the objective of promoting partnership locally and to create a platform for updating representatives on developments in the local government and health sectors in particular. In addition, a joint National Centre for Partnership/Irish Management Institute seminar on the implications of partnership for management development in the public service was held on 22 September and was well received.
Many Civil Service Departments and offices now have their partnership committees in place and the centre is assisting in putting partnership structures in place in the wider public service. A group has been established, chaired by my Department, consisting of representatives of Departments with bodies under their aegis, the Local Government Management Services Board, the Health Service Employers Agency and the National Centre for Partnership. Progress is being made towards the wide establishment of partnership structures, with facilitation and assistance from the centre. The centre is finalising training materials for public sector partnership and these will be disseminated as widely as possible, as soon as possible. Also, the centre will produce the first of its partnership bulletins this month. This will contain a range of information on partnership topics as well as working experiences of various forms of partnership. It is envisaged that five bulletins will be produced between now and March, 2000.
On a general note, as a result of a widening interest, not just in Ireland, of enterprise level partnerships, the centre has had discussions with French and Danish groups to exchange experiences. Further international contacts are being pursued by the joint directors.
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