Irish Examiner view: Storm clouds cast shadow on economy

We have enjoyed a period of relative calm in industrial relations, but what's next?

In what might be viewed as psychological softening up, Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Fórsa, our largest public sector trade union, warns: 'The risk is that this Government will lose control of industrial relations in the public service for the first time in 40 years.'

It may be due to a common purpose generated by fighting the pandemic. It may be because of a general sense of recovery in the economy in the decade following the collapse of the Celtic Tiger. It may be from a shared reluctance to rock the boat, but we have enjoyed a period of relative calm in industrial relations in our country.

This is in marked contrast to our neighbours where rail strikes have been taking place for 18 months with little prospect of a settlement. Junior doctors are on the longest strike in their history. Last year witnessed action by airport security staff, postal workers, civil servants, town hall unions. Even the barristers were at it. In nearly all cases, these disputes are driven by cost-of-living anxieties or job insecurity. 

Ireland is not immune to the factors which are worrying British workers, and there are gathering storm clouds which require dispelling before our own politicians face the verdict of the polls.

The last public service pay deal, Building Momentum, ran out on New Year’s Eve. Unions are planning a strike ballot this Thursday and will be seeking a mandate to push for pay hikes to match inflation estimates, and compensate for rises since 2020. In return, 400,000 workers would consider a commitment not to withdraw labour.

In what might be viewed as some psychological softening up, Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Fórsa, our largest public sector trade union, warns: “The risk is that this Government will lose control of industrial relations in the public service for the first time in 40 years.”

While talks were suspended before Christmas, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will face pressure to get some impetus back into discussions. The public sector pay bill amounts to some €22bn annually with every 1% increase costing the taxpayer an additional €250m.

Although Irish finances are in good shape, there are also rising anxieties, particularly among smaller companies, at the raft of costs being imposed upon them by the State for social and political reasons coupled with the required payback for covid support which is being called in from this May. 

Last week, the minimum wage rose to €12.70 per hour while businesses will also be responsible for implementing extra paid sick leave, increased parental leave and benefits, a rise in PRSI rates, as well as administrative responsibility for pension auto-enrolment later this year.

David Broderick, the head of the Small Firms Association, warns that while many companies weathered the covid and energy crises they now feel that “a lot of the hassle and anxiety” is produced by Government-imposed legislation.

The “ticking time bomb” facing many small operations was forcefully described in Saturday’s Irish Examiner by Richard Jacob who closed his popular Idaho Café on Caroline St in Cork in 2022 after 21 years. He pointed to €1.699bn owed by more than 6,000 businesses and warned when the level of debt becomes apparent, many will “simply fold”. The country needs to talk about whether it is the responsibility of the State “to fund more sick pay, pension contributions, and increased PRSI for those working in SMEs”, he said. 

That is a debate we should have. Vibrant local businesses serve social cohesion and identity. Too many of them are not flourishing, as the experience of 10 minutes spent in many high streets will attest.

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Treading water: Corporate candour

You wouldn’t need a consumer advocate and environmental champion such as Erin Brockovich to tell you that there is something deeply disturbing about the way in which the residents of the east Clare village of O’Brien’s Bridge have been served by Uisce Éireann.

An Environmental Protection Agency audit revealed that a water treatment plant serving a population of around 1,000 people distributed inadequately disinfected water for a full year before the scale of the problem was recognised.

Training and reporting issues were also identified by the agency. But what might exercise consumers and customers equally is that four public statements issued by Uisce Éireann between August and October 2023 made no reference to the fact that inadequately treated water had been distributed. This looks like an alarming shortfall of candour for which an explanation is required.

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In a word... wtf

When it comes to bad language many people in Ireland reckon we’ve got a get-out-of-jail card by pretending that “feck” isn’t a swear word at all and that the rest of the world is happy to cut us some slack on this. But we may simply have been ahead of our time. And according to new academic claims, the power of this four-letter word to shock more sensitive souls has, anyway, diminished almost to vanishing point.

Robbie Love, a lecturer in English language at Aston University, Birmingham, and an expert in swearing trends, says that what was previously regarded as foul language is now much less taboo because of the context in which it is used.

Of course, the march of time plays its part in the falling potency of certain remarks. Falstaff’s tirade against Prince Hal in Act II, Scene IV of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, “Away, you starvelling, you elf-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish!” would have modern audiences remembering Blackadder and holding their aching ribs. Tickled but not insulted.

Alexander Skarsgård as Lukas Matsson in the final episode of 'Succession', which was a leader in the field of cursing in modern TV plotlines.

And the ubiquity of cursing in modern TV plotlines is certainly another factor. The leader in this field was the hugely popular drama Succession which deployed 119 instances of the word “fuck” in its finale.

The critic Kenneth Tynan is usually thought to have been the first to use colourful street vernacular live on TV in 1963. But many cultural historians maintain he was beaten to the punch seven years earlier by the Dublin author and playwright Brendan Behan in an interview on Panorama with Malcolm Muggeridge. The trouble was that he was so drunk most viewers simply didn’t hear, or understand, it.

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