Twenty-six national anti-poverty and equality organisations walked out of a Partnership for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) plenary session at Dublin Castle this morning.
Although reaffirming their commitment to partnership, representatives of the groups said they could not rule out a withdrawal from partnership if the Government refused to take partnership seriously.
Speaking on behalf of the Community Platform, Mr Donal Toolan of the Forum of People with Disabilities said the Government over the past few months had continued its record of ignoring marginalised groups by failing to uphold the principle of equality.
"Examples of these failures include lack of consultation on the Disabilities Bill; the racist anti-Traveller amendment to the Housing Act; recent court cases regarding the rights of Irish-born children of asylum-seekers and suggested changes to the Equal Status legislation," he said.
The Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU) said commitment to social partnership had brought "real" benefits to all those involved but that the Government had shown an "unwillingness" to take a human rights approach to social legislation.
"We are not walking out of partnership, but making a statement of protest today," Mr Eric Conroy, general secretary of the INOU, said.
"The most recent example of this lack of commitment to true social partnership was the Government’s failure to consult with the INOU and others about swingeing cuts to the Community Employment".
Mr Conroy was referring to the Government decision two weeks ago to cut the number of people on Community Employment (CE) schemes from 28,000 estimated for 2003 to 24,000 by the end of this year.