The Government is to introduce legislation in the autumn to establish an Office for Economic and Social Development to streamline social partnership work. The office will co-ordinate the activities of the National Economic and Social Council, the National Economic and Social Forum and the new National Centre for Partnership and Performance. It will also see them established on a new statutory basis.
The National Centre for Partnership and Performance will replace the National Centre for Partnership (NCP) set up under the last national agreement, Partnership 2000. The Taoiseach Mr Ahern presented the last major report of the NCP in Government Buildings yesterday.
It looks at partnership in the public sector and concludes that "there are some areas of success, but they are not widespread".
Mr Ahern said that despite the obvious benefits of partnership in the Republic there were still many people who did not know "and aren't particularly interested in what partnership is about".
Partnership structures had been created in the public service but "the hard part is making it work, and it has been more difficult sustaining it in the long term."
