Talking softly while carrying a big stick

AS one reporter quipped on Saturday, Health Minister Dr James Reilly is effectively living out the old Teddy Roosevelt phrase of “talking softly, while carrying a big stick”.

In the dark arts of negotiation, which the current Government is getting a lot of practice at of late, the remark by the former US president is always good advice for someone who has to make their views clear without being lynched in the process.

During the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) annual conference in Waterford on Saturday, the Fine Gael deputy leader gave the clearest example why. Speaking to the medical union’s members at Faithlegg House Hotel, Dr Reilly confirmed that consultants would have to work longer hours for the same money, or work the same hours for less.

“There is a large political feeling that the knee-jerk ‘feel good’ response we would get by reducing consultants remuneration is something we should do. And it is in the Programme for Government. But I would much prefer to see the flexibility from consultants yielding this sort of outcome rather than going down that road,” the minister said, with a look of practiced sincerity etched onto his face.

“I have fought at cabinet for that to be the case. But I need product. Because if I do not get product, I will have to stand back and let others have their way.”

Effectively, Dr Reilly managed to tell some of Ireland’s most senior and well-paid doctors — consultants earn circa €200,000, depending on their public/private work ratio — to work more shifts for the same pay, or take a pay cut to work the same hours as now. And he did it while claiming it was unnamed cabinet colleagues — like Polonius, hidden behind an arras — who were forcing his hand.

The PR spin did not fool every IHCA member, with a number raising concerns about the specifics of the “flexibility” and “increased productivity” the minister has called for.

Teddy Roosevelt’s phrase may be the one which immediately comes to mind after Dr Reilly’s tactical speech on Saturday. But another slogan could just as easily be put forward, should the PR game fall flat and the reality of Ireland’s financial plight has to be spelled out once again: “My way or the highway.”