Some of the largest organisations representing marginalised groups are being excluded from negotiations on future social policy, they say.
The Community Platform, comprised of 26 organisations such as the Simon Communities of Ireland, the Irish Traveller Movement and the Irish Refugee Council are expressing their "alarm" in advance of the first plenary session of the new national agreement, Sustaining Progress which takes place at Dublin Castle today. The groups refused to sign up to Sustaining Progress in March, saying it had nothing for the groups they represented.
Ms Noeleen Hartigan, policy officer with the Simon Communities of Ireland, said the group could not sign up as the partnership deal "offered no meaningful solutions to tackling homelessness and poverty". It was not the intention of the communities to walk away from partnership.
Ms Orla O'Connor, of the National Women's Council and a spokesperson for the Community Platform said the agreement offered no means of progressing women's equality.
"However, in rejecting Sustaining Progress we did not reject the social partnership process. We believe that social partnership has delivered tangible results for marginalised groups over recent years," she said.
Ms Mary Keogh, of the Forum of People With Disabilities and also a spokesperson for the platform, said the Government seemed "intent on ignoring our voice."
A spokeswoman for the Government said partnership was "all about who's signed up and who's involved and we have to move forward on that basis.
"That's not to say groups with expertise in particular areas will not have access to Government."
