Nama and bankers take their place as new cuckoos in the nest
The political process was supplanted by partnership. Bertie Ahern developed a cosy consensus that rendered Parliament redundant, an irrelevancy to the centre of power. The negotiation of pay and conditions formed only part of Partnership agreements. These dealt with social objectives in health, education and the elimination of poverty. ICTU and IBEC became pivotal to economic and social policy. There were called pillars. Their mandate was facilitated by Cabinet ceding authority, believing together they could solve the nation’s problems.
This transpired to be disastrous. Public service payroll costs more than trebled. Benchmarking resulted in extra pay for little additional productivity. Worst excesses are visible in the form of slush funds to pay for union officials’ training and travel. SIPTU and the HSE operated a forum with budgets in excess of €5 million to keep the lads happy. Government lost sight of the fact that union bosses and employer representatives’ overriding obligation is to look after their members — not the public interest. There was no appropriate discipline, dividing roles of gamekeeper and poacher. Calamitous consequences for the state, not keeping at arms’ length from vested interests, are part of our bust Bertie legacy.
