We have been here before and it cost us all dearly, in the recent past. Bertie Ahern bought industrial peace with the largesse of bloated short-term building-sector tax revenue.
Now Enda Kenny's minority Coalition looks set to do much the same thing, this time with borrowed money at a perilous time for an economy facing Brexit and other shocks.
When the crash happened in autumn 2008, two-thirds of our problems were down to excessive public spending of money we suddenly no longer had. One-third of our difficulties related to the need to prop up our collapsed banking system.
No wonder a recent survey for the online Irish magazine, Tuarisc.ie, found a majority of Irish people believe we will once again blow our new-found, fragile prosperity, just as we did at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom.
But let's back up a little and take stock of just where we are right now.
Public sector workers took a big hit and helped in a big way with successful government efforts to repair our shattered economy. Equally, public sector workers are too often the butt of unfair criticisms. Just look what happens when their personnel are not at work to provide important services.
It is not often appreciated that public service workers are not on huge money. One union leader yesterday pointed out that two out of three of them earn a gross of less than €50,000 a year and many are well below that figure.
When all things are considered, they deserve some reward for sacrifices made. In contrast to many mainland EU countries, there were until recently few strikes or demonstrations as the public workforce stoically took the recessionary medicine.
But we are now in the middle of a chain reaction which began in a most unlikely place. The two representative organisations in An Garda Síochána seriously wrong-footed the Government by the level of their demands and their sheer militancy.
The garda unions also effectively pulled the rug from under the other public sector unions, who had done the 'decent thing' in everyone's interests. Let's recall that many of the union leaders went out on a limb to "sell" the Lansdowne Road Agreement which provided for phased pay restoration up to September 2018.
With the threat of unpoliced streets over four Fridays this month, the Government capitulated and agreed to paying gardaí €50m extra. The concession of €4,155 in rent allowance to new Garda recruits did not look great to the other unions. But, since there was no equivalent payment in the other sectors, it was probably just about acceptable.
But there were problems created by a new €1,459 payment for gardaí to attend briefings prior to starting their shifts, to be introduced from January 1. The Labour Court has also recommended that rank-and-file gardaí receive a new €15 payment for every day of their yearly leave entitlement of 34 days.
This is to reflect the operational requirements which mean gardaí cannot always take their leave when requested. But the reality is that few if anyone in the public sector can take holidays just when they want.
At the same time, many public sector workers are working an extra half an hour per day, or more, without compensation. So, they are looking askance at the €1,459 given gardaí for 15 minutes extra per shift.
Thus we get to the chain reaction. Between now and the early weeks of next year, all the public sector unions will be holding branch meetings in preparation for members' delegate conferences next spring.
That essentially is why Siptu president Jack O'Connor announced last week that his union would ballot their 60,000 public sector members for strike if the Government did not pledge to re-start pay restoration talks by next February. Let's note that pay talks in February would considerably lower the temperature for the union conference season.
Eoin Ronayne, who heads the Civil and Public Service Union, with some 13,000 lower-paid workers, is on the same wavelength, though for now at least a little less specific on the timeframe. He insists talks on full pay restoration must begin as soon as possible, and these talks must also focus on the extra hours and lower pay rates for new entrants.
All this brings us to the politics of public pay. In the private sector, things are simpler: unions want more and bosses want to concede as little as possible.
In the public sector, the politics make that simple equation a great deal more complex.
It is true that officials who negotiate for the Government take a tough stance to defend the public purse and union leaders find concessions are hard-won.
But governments have a vested interest in "buying off" pay demands, both to ensure a quieter life and also, perish the thought, to advance the re-election prospects of the governing parties. It is a strange dynamic - and even stranger when you look at the hybrid minority Coalition as it faces into this storm.
As the Government prepares for discussions tomorrow on a new public sector negotiating timeframe, all the signs are that the Taoiseach is ready to capitulate to the unions' demands.
The reality is that Mr Kenny's need to stay in Government Buildings may take centre stage here.
Despite his cautious words, he will start a process which will soon cost taxpayers dearly. We will pay so he can stay on in office.
Irish Independent
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