The Government has set a tight agenda for economic talks next month with employers, unions and other stakeholder groups.

Invitations issued in recent days by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin suggest that the “national economic dialogue” on July 16th and 17th will concentrate on the outline fiscal plan for 2016 which was set out in the spring statement.

The meeting, which takes place at the Printworks in Dublin Castle, will be structured around plenary sessions, chaired by an independent moderator, and smaller break-out sessions on specific themes.

The objective is to facilitate some kind of engagement with representative groups and civic society organisations but without a return to the full-scale “social partnership” of the pre-crash era in which key policy questions were settled years in advance without reference to the Oireachtas. The talks next month, to be followed by a public call for written budget submissions by the start of September, is seen as a means of widening consultation at national level on the annual budget. However, the Government has already settled a pay agreement with public sector unions which will come in next year.

Realistic options

“We are hoping for a genuine and robust dialogue, which will examine the realistic options open to the Government within the available fiscal space of around €1.2 billion to €1.5 billion,” says the letter of invitation from the Ministers.

“This will be shared on a 50:50 basis between expenditure and tax measures.”

According to the invitations, the objective of the talks is to facilitate an open and inclusive exchange on competing economic and social priorities as the Government prepares for Budget 2016 in October.