The Government will not deal with any group outside the new Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, the Taoiseach has insisted.

In a speech to the Dail on the newly negotiated programme, Mr Ahern said that the early settlers provision and the benchmarking body to examine pay and jobs in the public service were designed to restore stability to public service pay and provide a coherent way forward.

"The Government cannot and will not put this at risk by dealing with any group outside the confines of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness," he warned. He noted that the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland withdrew from the ICTU over the "early settlers" issue. He was aware of reports that it was to submit a claim for a 30 per cent pay rise, but pointed out that if such a claim were being made, "the Government cannot contemplate any response to such a claim other than the application of the pay and other measures contained within the proposed Programme for Prosperity and Fairness."

The programme provided for direct pay increases to teachers of 15 per cent over the period of the agreement. In addition, "early settlers" would get a 3 per cent increase from October next. A further 1,400 post-primary jobs would be provided over the lifetime of the programme, but "if there is one lesson to be learned from the way public service pay developed in recent years, it is the impossibility of trying to single out any group as apparently unique and deserving of special treatment."

The main principles of the programme, he said, were to underpin Ireland's competitiveness and develop our economic prosperity on a sustainable basis, and to use that increased prosperity to enhance quality of life in a fairer and more inclusive society.

Fine Gael's education spokesman questioned the Government's capacity to deliver on the aspirations in the programme, including "fairness". Mr Richard Bruton, who also has responsibility for relations with the social partners, said the social partners were being asked to make an act of faith in the big spending plans of £40 billion on the National Development Plan and £1.5 million on social inclusion. "This may be enough to put an agreement to bed, but the little people on the ground do not want plans, they want delivery," he said.

"We are running the economic engine at red-hot speed," he pointed out. "The Minister for Finance is piling on the coal. Individualisation was seen as a clever way to squeeze another few knots out of the vessel.

"The ship is ploughing through the waters faster than any other. New car sales are humming. Property values are soaring. However, in the eagerness to run headlong to the next marker, the Government has failed to notice how many people have fallen overboard or how savage is the undertow in the backwash for those who have lost their grip."

Mr Bruton said there were many who saw the agreement as only a starting point, a springboard to the real bargaining.

"Blue flu gave the lead. Busmen and teachers have taken the cue. The Government has shown time and again that they will bend before pressure from strategic sources, whether in key services or in political quarters. The pattern of U-turn is clear to see."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, believed that the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, "broke with the spirit of the partnership in two out of three Budgets thus far. And with the support of the House, he was free to do so."

He said the Labour Party would be examining the Minister's behaviour closely to see that it conformed with the key commitments in the programme, which most commentators "believe will go some way to ensuring the economy has a soft landing, not because we are bound by an agreement made over our heads but because the word of the Irish Government, given voluntarily to the social partners, should be kept."

He said that despite the 132 pages in the Partnership of Prosperity and Fairness, "this is at its core a pay and tax agreement, with a nod in the direction of social welfare and the community and voluntary sector.

"Many of the other sections are aspirational, with much work to be done by the plethora of bodies and committees yet to be established."

He said that, given the extent of the resources available to the Government, the concessions it made "fell far short of what could and should have been done for those on social welfare and low pay."