The Taoiseach has signalled his willingness to adopt the key concerns of the trade union movement as part of his negotiating strategy for the next round of partnership talks, which are due to due to begin shortly.
Mr Ahern pledged yesterday that the interests of low- and middle-income earners would be his priority and he promised to focus on issues such as pensions, health and education, which have been identified as union concerns.
Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg confirmed last night that some of the issues mentioned by Mr Ahern would be near the top of the unions' agenda in any negotiations on a successor to Sustaining Progress.
He said Ictu had outlined five key topics for unions at a meeting with the Taoiseach last week: healthcare; care of children and the elderly; pensions; upskilling of workers and the role of the State in the economy.
These were in addition to the priority issues of exploitation and displacement of jobs which Ictu wants addressed separately at the outset of any talks.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week programme, the Taoiseach said it would be reckless to talk about annual pay increases of 10 per cent but he promised that the Government would focus on the needs of those on low to middle incomes.
"We have to look after everybody. In the budget we gave an additional €3 billion and we gave it to the less well off in society. We gave it to health, we gave it to education. Everyone can't have an equal level. We have to share out a cake in a fair way."
Mr Begg later declined to speculate on the size of the pay increase likely to be sought by unions in the talks. He said it would be premature to do so given that a formal decision to enter negotiations had not yet been taken.
The perceived failure of the partnership process to bridge the gap between those on high and low pay is becoming an increasingly sore point for some unions.
Civil, Public and Services Union general secretary Blair Horan said the focus in any new talks had to be "much more" on the lower paid than had been the case in the past.
However, one of the State's biggest private sector unions, Mandate, has said it will not participate in talks on a new agreement because of the failure of previous deals to address the low-pay issue.
It plans to return to direct negotiations with employers on pay levels for its 40,000 members, many of them low-paid retail workers.
Mr Begg said Ictu would be seeking to build on the special 0.5 per cent increase for those on low pay secured in the last round of negotiations in June 2004.
Ictu expects to receive a proposed structure for talks, allowing for initial, separate discussions on exploitation and job displacement, from Government officials today.
That should pave the way for Siptu, the State's biggest union, to reconvene a special delegate conference to decide its stance on entering negotiations. It is anticipated formal negotiations on a successor to Sustaining Progress could finally get under way at the end of January or early next month.
Mr Ahern said there were now had more resources than ever and they had to be distributed fairly. "We have to do it in an advanced way that helps health and welfare and that affects trade union members."
The Government's bargaining position for the talks still had to be worked out in detail but he identified issues such as pensions, health and education as priorities.