The Government is running a serious risk of walking itself into a needless confrontation with the State's nurses.
Even before the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, had finished his speech at the publication of the report of the Commission on Nursing in Dublin Castle last night the unions were issuing bitter condemnations.
The Irish Nurses' Organisation and SIPTU issued statements expressing deep disappointment at what the INO general secretary, Mr Liam Doran, referred to as "the incomplete and unsatisfactory manner in which the Government has responded to the pay related recommendations" in the report.
In March 1997 a national strike by nurses was averted with 14 hours to spare, when the previous government agreed to refer a number of issues to a special commission on nursing.
Part of that agreement was that unresolved pay issues would go to further arbitration at the Labour Court, or Labour Relations Commission, if they were not resolved through the commission or further direct talks with the unions.
Yesterday the commission recommended that three payrelated issues go back into the industrial relations system for resolution. It said they should be resolved, if necessary by the court, before the end of the year.
For some reason Mr Cowen and the Cabinet opted for an alternative approach. Perhaps media reports that public sector pay policy was in jeopardy made them panic. But the line that emerged from the meeting and reiterated by Mr Cowen was that nurses' pay issues must be "addressed in the context of public service pay policy generally".
He added: "Discussions will be held at the appropriate time with the Public Service Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to progress these matters."
The Public Service Committee of ICTU is made up of unions representing groups such as teachers, civil servants and local authority officials, people who will certainly look at the nurses' pay claim with an eye for what's in it for their members. Mr Cowen might as well have walked into a lion's den at feeding time and asked the inmates what was on the menu.
He invoked a speech made by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in Dublin Castle last July to justify his decision not to deal immediately with the nurses' pay issue. The problem is, Mr Ahern's speech was about the possible repercussions of the Garda pay claim, and he was talking about public sector pay claims that are made after Partnership 2000 expires.
Nurses could be forgiven for thinking that Mr Cowen and the Cabinet are contemplating deferring their own pay claim for at least another two years. If they are the Government will certainly face a new revolt by nurses.
Mr Cowen appeared unaware of this last night as he spoke optimistically of adopting a partnership approach to pushing through the commission's recommendations. But the IMPACT general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone, ruled out partnership "unless everything is on the agenda, including pay".
He said the nursing unions were ready to go back to the negotiating table with management to try and iron out their differences. "If we need the assistance of the LRC or Labour Court, that can be facilitated through the terms of the commission. But we need to meet soon if we are to meet the commission's deadline of the end of the year."
There are 200 recommendations in the report, most of which will be welcomed enthusiastically by nurses, but only if last year's settlement is honoured.
Hopefully, when the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, returns from China, he will be able to explain to his colleagues what he said last July and another nurses' strike can be averted.