The unemployed and other lower income groups could suffer if today's meeting of the social partners on the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) concentrates mainly on pay, leaders of the voluntary and community sector have warned.

The Irish Business and Employers' Organisation (IBEC) has also warned that a renegotiation of the pay elements of the PPF could widen the gap between those in work and welfare dependants.

However, the SIPTU president, Mr Des Geraghty, said his union "and unions in general have at all times stressed that we are seeking a review. We are not focusing only on pay but the needs of those on fixed incomes, who are amongst the most vulnerable victims of inflation. We have never exonerated the Government from its obligations to the weakest members of society in regard to inflation and do not intend to do so."

Fr Sean Healy, of the Conference of Religious in Ireland Justice Commission, yesterday called on Government and other social partners to exercise fairness in addressing the problems arising from inflation. "The new national programme is called the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness," he said. "We have the prosperity but we do not have the fairness."

"In the present discussions there is a real danger that the struggle among the strong for access to the substantial resources currently available will result in the continued exclusion of the weakest and most vulnerable in our society."

He said that those who were the poorest to begin with were worse off today than they were a year ago, because of inflation.

"The first call on available resources must go to those hardest hit, that is, those on social welfare and in low-paid jobs. There is a commitment in the PPF to use the extra resources that become available `to accelerate progress towards the priority objectives of the Programme including social inclusion'. "Abundant extra resources exist because economic growth has been almost twice the rate on which the PPF was developed."

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) described today's meeting as "the crucial test of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness". INOU spokeswoman Ms Camille Loftus said: "Meaningful pre-Budget consultation is essential if Government is to deliver on partnership commitments to people on low incomes."

IBEC's director of social policy Mr Brendan Butler said his organisation felt "very strongly" that the next Budget should "focus on people on fixed incomes. By increasing pay costs we could actually widen the gap between those on low incomes and the rest of society. Our solution to the problem is to look at this in the context of budgetary policy".

Today's meeting was originally called at the request of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to look at budgetary measures to tackle inflation. If the other social partners agree to look at a pay review bilateral talks are likely to begin next week.