A GOVERNMENT commitment on social welfare has led to a breakthrough in the final negotiations on a new national agreement, Partnership 2000. The social inclusion budget is to be boosted by £25 million.
Opposition from organisations working in this area to what they saw as inadequate welfare provisions led to delays in the talks and the cancellation of a formal launching yesterday of the programme.
The text of Partnership 2000 was issued last night without ceremony. It was welcomed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, which concluded negotiations on its pay and taxation provisions a week ago.
Organisations representing the unemployed and other marginalised groups withheld approval of the terms because the Government would not give a commitment to raise welfare payments to the minimum recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare.
The agreement has now been amended to include this commitment. The Cabinet approved the extra £25 million needed to help meet this target at a lunchtime meeting on Thursday. But the final costs could be much higher.
The acceptance of the commission's proposals will be of most benefit to the unemployed and people on supplementary welfare.
Some social welfare payments, such as contributory pensions, are already at, or even above, the rates recommended by the commission.
It is understood that the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, took the lead in arguing for the increase. But the proposal also had the support of the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, and the Tanaiste, Mr Sring.
Until Thursday Government negotiators had refused to do more than pledge "substantial" progress towards the commission's recommended rates.
While condemnation of the new agreement by such organisations as the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU), the Community Platform, the National Women's Council of Ireland and the Conference of Religious of Ireland would not have affected its implementation, it carried considerable moral weight.
It would also have been politically embarrassing for the Government, especially as the full title of the agreement is Partnership 2000 for Inclusion, Employment and Competitiveness.
The INOU was the first to make its opposition to the agreement public. It has still to make a considered response to the improved terms, but it has announced that it will no longer be recommending rejection. The National Women's Council and Community Platform have welcomed the broad thrust of the agreement.
The extra £25 million approved by the Cabinet on Thursday will bring the total cost of the social inclusion programme to £525 million. This compares with £900 million in tax relief for PAVE workers and £100 million in tax relief for business.
The agreement also provides for a 9.25 per cent pay rise for private sector workers between January 1997 and September 1999. Public service workers will receive similar increases between June 1997 and April 2000.
When tax relief is taken into account, most PAVE earners will receive increases in take-home pay worth 2 per cent a year during the life of the agreement.
The Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, used the opportunity of the FAS Excellence Through People awards yesterday to warn the public service unions of the need to embrace change on the same scale as workers in the private sector.