Who are the Partners?
 
There are seven organisations, from both sides of the border, involved in the Partnership.
 
These are (in alphabetical order):
 
An Foras Áiseanna Saothair (FÁS)
Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
Department for Employment and Learning (DEL)
Dundalk Chamber of Commerce
Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC)
Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
Londonderry Chamber of Commerce

The Partnership provides a forum for co-operation on cross-border labour market issues through the links it creates between these organisations.
 

The Department of Employment and Learning (DEL)

Departmental Aim:  The aim of the Department, as identified in the 2008 – 2011 Corporate Plan:
“To promote learning and skills, to prepare people for work and to support the economy.”

Departmental Objectives
• Individuals who are seeking to improve their levels of skills and qualifications or who require support and guidance to progress towards employment, including self-employment; and
• businesses in both the public and private sectors.
•The three pillars of the Department’s work are Innovation, Skills and Employment.

FÁS, the National Training and Employment Authority in the Republic of Ireland is a state-sponsored body set up to provide a full range of services for the labour market.

The principal functions of FÁS as set in the Labour Services Act 1987, are to provide:
 
training and re-training;
employment services;
placement and guidance services;
assistance to people seeking employment elsewhere in the European Community
and providing manpower related services on a commercial basis outside the state.
 
The main services provided by FÁS are in training, employment, the community and enterprise development. FÁS provides a regionally and locally based service for clients through a network of 20 Training Centres, 55 Employment Service offices, 45 FÁS supported Community Training Workshops for over 8,000 community groups around the country.
 
FÁS contributes to the country's growth in three keys ways by:
 
1. Helping to provide skills needed in the marketplace stimulating small-scale enterprise;
2. Promoting equity in the labour market through employment;
3. Training initiatives for disadvantaged groups.
In addressing these tasks, FÁS services the needs of businesses, jobseekers and the community.
 
Training for individuals is provided through a network of Training Centres and external training. The training FÁS provides is designed to meet both the skills-needs of business and the job needs of the community. FÁS keeps in close touch with those needs, through research, regional planning, industrial training committees and through direct feedback from employers.
 
The FÁS Employment Service Offices throughout the country provide comprehensive information, advice, counselling, guidance and placement services. FÁS has been a proactive member of the EURES network since its inception in 1992.
 
IRISH BUSINESS & EMPLOYERS CONFEDERATION

IBEC represents and provides economic, commercial, employee relations and social affairs services to some 5,000 companies and organisations from all sectors of economic and commercial activity in the Republic of Ireland.

It works to shape policies and influence decision-making in a way that develops and protects members' interests and contributes to the development of an economy that promotes enterprise and productive employment.
 
IBEC represents its members' interests to government, State Agencies, the trade unions, other national interest groups and the general public.
 
Through its Brussels office, the Irish Business Bureau (IBB) IBEC works on behalf of business and employers at European level to ensure that European policy is compatible with its own objectives for the development of the economy in the Republic of Ireland.
 
Economic affairs, employee relations, pay, employment, taxation, competition, the environment, trade, transport and sectoral matters are just some of the issues on which IBEC works and serves its members on a daily basis. It develops and reviews policy on such topics through consultation with its members, undertaking its own research and seeking expert advice and opinion.
 
The IBEC - CBI Joint Business Council is a partnership between IBEC and the Confederation of British Industry (Northern Ireland ). 
 
IRISH CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS (ICTU)    

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is the central representative organisation and authority for the trade union movement within the island of Ireland. The Council has 66 affiliated unions, of which 49 are from within the Republic of Ireland. The remainder have their headquarters in either Northern Ireland or in Britain. Total membership of affiliated unions is approximately 700,000 persons.

The ICTU has as its main function the co-ordination of the work of trade unions operating within Ireland - both the Republic and Northern Ireland. It represents the movement at a national level and has acted on its behalf during negotiations of national agreements on social and economic issues including the current Partnership 2000 in the Republic.
 
Within its organisational role, the ICTU provides a comprehensive trade union training and education programme for shop stewards, officials and members of affiliated trade unions in both jurisdictions.
 
Congress nominates representatives to a wide range of institutions in Northern Ireland and the Republic. The Northern Ireland Committee of Congress, which is elected at a Northern Ireland Biennial Conference, is responsible for day-today affairs in Northern Ireland. 

Dundalk Chamber                                                      

Mission Statement  "To serve and represent the interests of the business community and to stimulate and promote the economic development of the area in partnership with other organisations."
Membership of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce is drawn from the local business community and is representative of businesses of all sectors and sizes. The Chamber has excellent human resources through the voluntary participation of local business people on active committees.Contact Information:
 Dundalk Chamber of Commerce
 Hagan House
 Ramparts Rd
 Dundalk
 Co. Louth
 Ireland
 
Telephone:             + 353 (0)42 9336343                   + 353 (0)42 9336343                     + 353 (0)42 9336343        
 Fax: + 353 (0)42 9332085
 General Information: info@dundalk.ie
 Webmaster: janinne@dundalk.ie (Janinne Legge)
 Website: Dundalk Chamber of Commerce
 
 
Londonderry Chamber                                         

Since its establishment in 1885 the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce has played a leading role in the furtherance of the economic and social life in the North-West.
 
Even in the most difficult years of civic unrest and terrorist activity the Chamber has striven unceasingly to create the necessary infrastructure to ensure Derry´s true role as the commercial centre of the North West
 
Strategy for the Period 2000 - 2005
 The Chamber will at all times seek to maintain its role as the leading voice in the economic life of the north-west.

The Chamber will continue to represent the best interests of all its members.
 
While recognising that in recent years much progress has been made in the re-building of the City as it emerges from the trauma of civil strife, much still remains to be done for the City to reach its full potential as the industrial, commercial and social capital of the north-west region of the island of Ireland.
 
The Chamber will therefore concern itself in four areas of interest which it considers crucial in the achievement of the aforementioned goal:
 Infrastructure
 Industrial and Commercial Development
 Official Policy Considerations 
 Development of Cross-Border Initiatives
 
Contact Information:
 Londonderry Chamber
 Ms Sinead McLaughlin
 The Old Fire Station
 1A Hawkin Street
 Londonderry
 BT48 6RD
 Telephone: + 028 71 262379
 Fax: 028 71 372951
 
General Information: janice@londonderrychamber.co.uk
 Website: Londonderry Chamber of Commerce