The publication this week of the Buckley report into pay at the top levels of the public service attracted the sort of response that might have been expected, especially from teachers who immediately set down their expectations from the benchmarking process.

From the Government's point of view the timing could have been better. The problem is that it will be hard for the Government to hold the line against substantial improvements in teachers' pay without offsetting increases in productivity if it is awarding itself a non-productivity rise of close to 20 per cent in the Buckley review.

In today's buoyant economy, no one seems to have any problem with burgeoning public sector wages. Unfortunately, a downturn will come and when it does, we will still be stuck with the rigid and - at that time - disproportionately high public sector bill, with no way of reducing numbers to cut costs.

The inevitable result is that the taxpayers who will finance the current rises will pay again later with service cutbacks. Some deal.