Social partnership ‘used as scapegoat’

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions has attacked the findings of a Department of Finance review which claims budget-making over the last 10 years was “overwhelmed” by programmes for government and social partnership.

The report says: “Economic overheating along with the social partnership process led to a major deterioration in competitiveness in the private sector and to very high public service wages especially relative to international partners.”

“As the representative of the public service employers, the Department of Finance had an important input to the partnership process and consistently warned of growing threats to competitiveness,” the report’s authors say.

“Over the 10-year period of review, the Programme for Government and Social Partnership processes helped overwhelm the budget process.”

However, ICTU general secretary David Begg said to blame social partnership for the economic crisis was “a facile exercise in scapegoating designed to obscure the true cause of the collapse: banks, builders and toxic Government policy”.

“This is about the policy of the government that came to power in 1997. They were hell bent on cutting taxes for the wealthy and deregulating whole swathes of the economy.”

Mr Begg said a review of social partnership carried out by the ESRI had found its impact had been positive, in terms of job creation and encouraging Foreign Direct Investment.

The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, which represents senior civil service grades, said the decisions taken by its members working in the Department of Finance had been “largely vindicated” by the report.

It pointed out the authors explicitly cite political, rather than departmental, actions for the economic crisis.