I am delighted to be here to mark the culmination of the Irish Productivity Centre's New Work Organisation in Ireland Programme. My Department has supported this project since its inception. The Programme, which has been undertaken in co-operation with The Irish Business and Employers Confederation and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and funded by the European Commission, is a project which has particular relevance in the current era of social partnership which characterises the Irish Economy. As we approach the latter stages of Partnership 2000, knowledge gained from projects such as the New Work Organisation in Ireland Programme is particularly beneficial.

New forms of work organisation pose a challenge to the social partners and the policy makers as we enter a new millennium. As we approach the end of Partnership 2000 and prepare to enter into negotiations for its successor, it is perhaps timely to look back at the circumstances which prompted the Government and Social Partners to embark on the path of national consensus which is serving Ireland so well.

The early to mid 1980s was characterised by the features of an economy in crisis- recession, rising unemployment, industrial relations difficulties and strained public finances. We were faced with an urgent need to solve these problems.

It was from this state of crisis that the notion of national partnership emerged and the first of the national partnership agreements the Programme for National Recovery was launched. This agreement has been followed by a series of national agreements. The current agreement, Partnership 2000, will carry through to next year.

Since those early days of partnership, the Irish economy has been transformed. In December 1987 the numbers on the Live Register were 250,083. For the corresponding month of 1998 that figure had dropped to 215,752 and the most recent figures published by the Central Statistics Office just last week show that the number of people signing-on is now 196,852. This is below 200,000 for the first time since 1983. With regard to the state of the public finances we have recently recorded a current budget surplus of over £2 billion. This highlights our economic achievements when we compare it with the deficit of over £1 billion in 1987. The exchequer borrowing requirement of more than £1Ÿ billion in 1987 has been replaced by an exchequer surplus of £747 million last year. Inflation has dropped dramatically and I can say with confidence that living standards have increased in line with the positive developments in the economy.

There is no doubt that successful national partnership agreements have been a key factor and the driving force in these great achievements. It is timely, therefore, as we approach the culmination of the latest advancement of our social partnership model that we should look to the future and plan for a successor that will continue the progress we have achieved since 1987, and particularly during the currency of Partnership 2000.

Many of those, particularly younger workers, now enjoying the benefits of our booming economy, may not recall the dark days of the 1980s when employment opportunities for those entering the workforce was scarce and many young, bright and well educated Irish people were faced with the decision to leave this country and establish a career elsewhere. Industrial relations were such that there was a loss of productivity due to wide scale strike action. In contrast, days lost due to strike action continue to decline in recent years and in 1998 less than 40,000 workdays were lost. This is about half the number of days lost in the previous year.

There is, however no room for complacency. We continue to have a number of high level disputes, particularly, but not only, in the public sector. It is of special concern that in some of these disputes, normal industrial relations procedures and structures have not been fully followed or utilised. I must, therefore, emphasise the need for parties to disputes to respect and co-operate with one another and where appropriate with the industrial relations agencies

• the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. To put this in another way, the partnership approach which has been so evident at the national level should be reflected in industrial relations at all levels.

It has required sacrifices on the part of all to enable the Irish economy to take this great leap forward. It is vital that we do not ignore the experiences of the 1970s and '80s. We have come this far by adopting a responsible evolving process of social partnership which is directed at ensuring positive outcomes for all of Irish society.

Ireland cannot return to the ways of the past. We must sustain our achievements and build on them. The rewards of our success have been great and many sectors have seen a rate of growth that has never been achieved before. Profits in these sectors have grown in consequence. In an era of social partnership no one group should be seen to be benefiting at the perceived expense of others. It is to be expected that all of those who have made the sacrifices and contributed to the boom, employees as well as employers, should seek to share in the gains achieved.

The old ways of spiralling wage demands cannot be the answer to this need to share in the profits and other gains. Partnership in itself implies working together towards mutual gains. We must be innovative in the way we address this issue. Any successor to Partnership 2000 will have to recognise this. The new environment gives us the opportunity to take a new approach to employee rewards.

Recent budgets, starting in 1997 have introduced tax incentives to facilitate sustainable approaches to profit sharing, for example, Employee Share Ownership and Save as You Earn schemes. In Ireland the practice of these types of programmes is as yet in its infancy. Their impact is starting to be felt, as a recognition of the employee, as a stakeholder in the enterprise takes hold. The likelihood is that, as partnership agreements at enterprise level increase, strategies for introducing profit sharing as a means of extending to employees a sense of ownership in the workplace, will emerge

Given the diversity of work types and employment arrangements in our dynamic industrial environment, no one method of profit sharing is likely to become the norm. There needs to be a flexibility in the approach we take, with the focus being on mutual gains for both employers and employees. I believe the social partners, understand this and want to work towards adopting models that complement the type of work organisation in which new methods of profit sharing are established.

It is clear to me that continued success in the process of partnership demands that we cannot get entangled in a cycle of basic wage demands that are unsustainable and which could in the long term undo the economic progress we have achieved. Maintaining and enhancing competitiveness has to be our prime goal.

During the lifetime of Partnership 2000, there has been another strand to the development of Irish society. That has been to focus on those, who despite the great achievements in the Irish economy in recent years, remain marginalised from our success. One of the tenets underlying Partnership 2000 is the principle of social inclusion. Some groups cannot be left behind as the economy grows. We are already starting to experience labour shortages in some sectors. There is a need for skills development so that those who still remain marginalised from the employment market may benefit from an updating of their job skills to enable them to participate in our booming economy. There is a role for all of the social partners in enabling this to happen.

The Government has taken the initiative to promote and initiate training and reskilling programmes. There is a role for the social partners in this area. We must all aim to ensure that education and training maintains its relevance to changing demands in the economy and Irish society as a whole.

The Government's commitment to the continuation of the partnership approach is strong but it cannot be partnership at any price on any one partner's terms or partnership for partnership's sake. We have engaged in this partnership process to build a strong, vibrant, enterprising and inclusive economy. All parties must now recognise their responsibilities to one another and to the nation as a whole.

I congratulate the IPC on the work you have carried out in the past three years on this project and I pay particular tribute to the companies who took the initiative of participating in this project and gave a commitment to enterprise partnership in action. I understand that some of these companies have decided retain the services of the IPC and continue the process further while others are continuing their partnership programmes, utilising their own resources.

Enterprise level partnership initiatives of this nature are models of what I would expect to emerge on a grander scale in any successor to Partnership 2000. The outcome of the New Work Organisation in Ireland Programme is, therefore, important in our preparations for any new national social partnership agreement.

Any project that can provide good qualitative as well as quantitative data on enterprise partnership in practice deserves particular notice. The New Work Organisation in Ireland Programme has recognised this and set about initiating a practical and positive approach to the development of enterprise level partnership. I commend the IPC on this exercise.