Government, trade union and employer leaders are expected to meet tomorrow for discussions on how to resume talks on a national pay agreement. The preliminary talks faltered last Monday when SIPTU, the State's largest union, withdrew from negotiations because of the way low-income groups had been treated in the Budget.
Since then the Government has offered concessions worth £125 million to low-paid workers and those on social welfare, but the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has asked its taxation sub-committee to produce a report on what is needed before talks resume. ICTU leaders have also made it clear they want commitments from employers and the Government on issues such as flat-rate pay increases and the resolution of outstanding public service pay disputes.
While the director general of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, Mr John Dunne, said yesterday he had no objection in principle to meeting ICTU, the priority was "to know where the unions stand. Quite frankly, we don't know. We have been receiving conflicting messages. Until a coherent view emerges from the trade unions, we can't make much progress."
Trade union leaders were anxious to play down differences. The president of SIPTU, Mr Des Geraghty, was relatively optimistic yesterday that progress could be made. He said the ICTU taxation sub-committee had been asked to look at the latest proposals because the unions "don't want a quick fix that creates more problems than it solves".
He added: "There has never been greater consensus on what needs to be done. Everyone expected the Budget to go in a certain direction but it didn't."
He thought talks could be brought back on track. "I believe that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Fianna Fail parliamentary party are quite close to the trade union position on what needs to be done."
Significant measures to help low income groups had to be put in place before there could be detailed resumption of negotiations on a new agreement. "We can't be confused about this," he said. "Either the Budget discriminates against low income groups or it helps them.
"If the Budget is not seen to be fair, we won't be able to talk about a national agreement. It is as simple as that."
The chairman of the public services committee of ICTU, Mr Peter McLoone, was also critical of the way in which the Budget had been handled. He said the time had passed when the budget could be seen as "a stand-alone list of social and economic announcements.
"The concept of the annual budget kept secret from all bar a small inner circle in government is outdated, not necessary and inconsistent with both social partnership and the need to develop long-term strategies which command broad acceptability." The "personal changes" made to the Budget by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, had "overshadowed" its positive aspects.
It is now looking increasingly unlikely that substantive talks on a new national agreement will begin before Christmas.