Welcome to the NESC

As of 1st April 2010, the NESF and the NCPP have been dissolved and the staff transferred into the NESC.

The National Economic and Social Council will continue as a forum for engagement between Government and the Social Partners on strategic economic and social issues over the period ahead.

The Council has also been asked to adapt its work programme to ensure that appropriate aspects of the work of the NESF and NCPP are continued.

The NESC offices are still in Parnell Square and a website for the new organisation will be available shortly.

About the NESC

The National Economic and Social Council was established in 1973. The function of the Council is to analyse and report to the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) on strategic issues relating to the efficient development of the economy and the achievement of social justice and the development of a strategic framework for the conduct of relations and negotiation of agreements between the government and the social partners. The Council is chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and contains representatives of trade unions, employers, farmers' organisations, NGOs, key government departments and independent experts.

The Work of the Council Over thirty Years

For many years the Council was one of the few bodies undertaking strategic, long-term, analysis of Ireland's position and problems. This is reflected in its early studies on the economic and social implications of demographic change, education, health, social services, energy, welfare, agriculture, rural development, housing and the labour market. The Council undertook detailed sectoral studies-on housing, agriculture and rural development, health, forestry, transport, tourism, regional policy and local development. An enduring focus has been the challenge of economic development of a small peripheral, previously agricultural, economy. In the early 1980s, the Council undertook a major review of Irish industrial policy. This led a sharper focus on achieving value for money in allocating capital grants and other supports to business. In a number of reports, the Council made a significant contribution to understanding of Ireland's experience in Europe and the challenges of the internal market and monetary union. It was a proposal from the Council, in 1990, that led to the area-based approach to long-tem unemployment and social exclusion. Ireland has since been recognised as a leader in these innovative approaches to local development.

Social Partnership

The role of the Council was reshaped by the deep crisis of the 1980s. In 1986, the Council formulated an agreed strategy to escape from Ireland's vicious circle of real stagnation, rising taxes and exploding debt. That Strategy formed the basis upon which government and the social partners negotiated the Programme for National Recovery to run from 1987 to 1990. This was the first of seven social partnership programmes that has seen Ireland become a leading, and much studied, example of negotiated economic and social governance. Every three years, NESC prepares an overview of economic and social conditions. These 'Strategy' reports are the key input to the negotiation of the partnership programmes.

CESlink portal

Online cooperation between Economic and Social Councils.