large measure to a series of national wage agreements which provided for wage moderation, productivity and industrial peace along with taxation and social reforms. During that time, membership of the core group of social partners - trade unions, employers, farmers and government - was expanded to include the community and voluntary sector through the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF). A voice was thus given at national level to the unemployed, women, disadvantaged communities, people with disabilities, the elderly and environmental interests. And, later, members of the Oireachtas and senior civil servants were invited to share a platform with the community and voluntary sector.
Last year, the NESF proposed a new departure, which emphasised closer links between national-level partnership and local communities so as to underpin future agreements; make them more relevant to all citizens and strengthen the bond between social partnership and representative democracy. This new mandate, endorsed yesterday by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will involve the NESF in developing new policies and programmes on long-term unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. The organisation has also been asked to evaluate the effectiveness of policies being implemented within the framework of social partnership agreements and of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy. The work will be carried out by teams representing the social partners at local level and will feed back into policy change and formation.
Already, some indications of friction have emerged between senior civil servants and representatives of voluntary organisations over the implementation of various government-sponsored schemes. But if the partnership and problem-solving approach is to work, traditional power centres - such as the civil service - must be prepared to share decision-making power and to co-operate with groups directly affected by government schemes. That is the main thrust of an evolved partnership approach outlined last year by the NESF and accepted by the Government. As the chairperson of the NESF, Ms Maureen Gaffney, observed: "By bringing together all those centrally involved in the process, as well as those who are traditionally removed from the conventional policy debate, we hope to further widen and deepen social partnership, but also make substantial progress towards the substantive issues regarding social exclusion in particular."
The 1987 social partnership experiment, which created a framework for industrial peace along with high productivity and economic growth through national wage agreements, was beginning to suffer from structural fatigue. Its expansion, by way of the NESF, reflected the need to address poverty, unemployment and deprivation as part of overall economic planning. The revised mandate for NESF is designed to make national agreements more effective in terms of planning and implementing social policy. But in order to fulfill that function, it will require an increase in staff and resources. At the moment, only one official is available to the NESF to do this work. That may change when it joins with the NESC as part of the Office for National Economic and Social Development. It is up to the Government to ensure the resources are made available.