Croke Park - Talks need an injection of urgency

For some the Croke Park deal epitomises all that is wrong in this country.

For others the agreement is a positive revolution in the way Government manages ever-scarcer resources, provides services and interacts with its employees and the citizens of the state.

Proponents of those diametrically opposed views have reached a degree of certainty that is irrational. Those certainties have polarised society and may have decreed an unfortunate and unacceptable conclusion — a failure to sufficiently reform our public services, put them on a sustainable financial footing, maintain or improve services and, and this may be the highest bar of all, convince those outside the Croke Park loop their interests are afforded the same weight as those directly involved.