With the Government flailing about on the nursing homes debacle, Charlie McCreevy must be thanking his lucky stars that he got out when he did.
It was, after all, his imperious edict that medical cards be granted as of right to all over-70s that opened up this particular can of worms like a knife through butter.
That is not to say it is all sweetness and light in Brussels for Kommissar McCreevy, as he is referred to on the EU website. Coming down the tracks at us is a particularly nasty piece of European law which could wipe away overnight many of the hard-won rights secured by Irish workers. And it is our very own kommissar who has the job of seeing it through.
This is the EU services directive, introduced by McCreevy's predecessor at the commission, Dutchman Fritz Bolkestein, now a figure of hate across large swathes of Europe, a fate McCreevy must be eyeing with some nervousness.
The directive seeks to enhance competition in service provision across Europe, allowing companies to do business anywhere in the EU without restriction. But of course wage levels and standards of workers' protection vary enormously throughout the EU. Decades of trade union activity in many European countries, including Ireland, have secured wage levels and worker rights far in excess of several of the newer members of the EU, predominantly the eastern Europeans.
The services directive confronts this discrepancy head on. If differing rights and benefits structures hinder the free movement of business operations, these rights must simply be dismantled. To level the playing field, it proposes the "country of origin principle". This states that companies will be subject only to the laws of their country of origin, rather than to the standards applying in those countries where they do business.
What this means is that in the case, for example, of a Polish company operating in Ireland, the pay and conditions of its employees need only be in line with legal minimums applicable in Poland. This would apply regardless of the nationality of the workers. The only factor determining their rights would be the location of the company's headquarters.
This immediately opens up the appalling vista of businesses relocating to countries with the lowest wages and worker protection legislation within the EU. Minimum wages could become a thing of the past. Countries might well compete in a race to the bottom to attract companies to locate within their borders. It is conceivable that Irish companies could slash wages and abolish employment rights for Irish workers simply by relocating their headquarters outside Ireland. The potential consequences flowing from the directive, including civil unrest, could be catastrophic.
During the European Parliament hearings on his job as Internal Market Commissioner last October, McCreevy described the services directive as a "visionary" piece of legislation. Arguing that it would facilitate those doing business by removing red tape, he robustly denied that it would have any negative consequences for workers and their rights.
The governments of France, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Belgium, Denmark and Portugal strongly disagree. Now mired in controversy, there are indications of divisions in the commission, with McCreevy beginning to distance himself from the directive. The Financial Times has denounced him as craven. He prefers to describe his U-turn as pragmatic.
But what about Ireland in all of this? Debate here as been almost non-existent. To their credit, both SIPTU and Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa have tried to bring it to public attention and have expressed their strong opposition to the "country of origin principle".
The Government has been very quiet. Mary Harney appeared to support the directive last September, saying it was an important step in increasing competitiveness.
It has generally been the case that the bulk of EU directives have been of benefit to ordinary Irish people, through providing increased levels of protection across a range of social and environmental areas. The debate over the services directive goes to the heart of what kind of Europe we should have - whether it should seek to protect and enhance the rights of its citizens, or whether it should prioritise the interests of business across the EU.
As part of the "Lisbon Agenda" on economic development, the services directive indicates the most aggressive shift into the pro-business camp which the EU has so far displayed. That any serious debate on this should have passed Ireland by is a poor reflection on a Government which will shortly be expecting us to march, sheep-like, into the polls to pass another piece of EU legislation - its new constitution.
With the row over the services directive already threatening to derail French support at the polls for the constitution, we can get some idea of just how concerned the rest of Europe is at the commission's apparent willingness to sacrifice the rights of many of its citizens. It is about time we in this country woke up.
mraftery@irish-times.ie