The Irish Model of Social Partnership has received little more than words in the Caribbean. Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of this concept in the Caribbean. What is social partnership Social partnership refers to cooperation between government, the private sector and workers on strategies to address immediate and long-term economic and social challenges. Such strategies may include wage and price controls, as well as tax reforms. Social partnerships are, therefore, of primary importance in their objective of providing stability to national growth and development. Social partnerships can also include civil society and voluntary groups and tend to be implemented when governments have been unable to unilaterally address social and economic challenges. (Minto-Coy, L. 2011) The Irish model of social partnership In the paper Social Partnerships and Development: Implications for the Caribbean it was argued that social partnership has been a significant feature of growth in Ireland since the late 1980s. Social partnership in Ireland emerged from the intense economic crisis of the mid-1980s. At the beginning of the 1980s the Irish economy was in a state of social and economic crisis, marred by high public debt. The Irish Social Partnership originated with the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), an independent economic consultative body created in 1973, with members made up of representatives from the private, non-governmental and public sectors. (Beary, 2007). A key component of the Irish model was the introduction of a hiring “freeze” which saw only one in three public sector vacancies filled. A wage agreement with a 2.5% wage increase each year for both the private and public sectors…… half of the document……nna D. (2009a). “Diasporas and Development: An Evaluation of the Irish Experience for the Caribbean”, Caribbean Document No. 7, April. Waterloo, Canada: CIGI.Minto-Coy, I. (2011). Social partnerships and development: implications for the Caribbean. 12th ed. [ebook] Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI). Available at: www.cigionline.org [Accessed 29 April 2014].Wallace, Joe (2002). “Pacts for employment and competitiveness: ESB costs and competitive review”. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Available at: www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/industrialrelations/pecs/pdf/english/pecs_esb.pdf.Yeo, Lionel (2004). “Growth strategies of small nations with particular reference to Ireland, Finland and Singapore”. MBA thesis, Sloan Business School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. June.