We can’t allow the working poor to be the first casualties of reform

THIS media fuss about “trouble in the government” over Joint Labour Committees is daft.

Tue, 31 May, 2011 - 01:00

Fergus Finlay is a former political activist and adviser to three governments, the former head of the children's charity Barnardos, a writer and a broadcaster.

The row itself is a classic mix of ideology, special pleading, media messing, and political grandstanding. But the mix has given rise to pretty absurd speculation that a row about nothing at all is has, somehow or other, the potential to destabilise the government.

It doesn’t, of course. If a government makes a decision to publish a report and begin a process of consultation, that’s what the minister responsible should do. If the minister in question — in this case Richard Bruton — goes around the place implying that irrespective of what the report says, and regardless of the outcome of the consultation process, he’s after a particular outcome, well then he’s inviting controversy.