The Government will, no doubt, reject any suggestion that it has climbed down but last night's decision to allow health service managers negotiate with the nursing unions is at the very least something of a volte-face.
The decision means that negotiations can begin on the basis of recommendations made in the Report of the Commission on Nursing. There is now every prospect that the nurses will receive further payments to finalise their claim under the restructuring clause of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW). It seems likely that the overall package will be beyond the parameters originally set by the Government for public service pay. But last night's decision means that the Government has bowed to the inevitable and - after a great deal of carping - finally recognised that the nurses are a special case.
The reversal of policy comes shortly after the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, cautioned that the award of any "special" deal for nurses or any other group would unleash a rash of copycat claims from other interest groups. The Government, she said, could not afford any such deals, since a 1 per cent pay increase would represent some £60 million in additional State spending. Last week, the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, had already struck a similar vein, arguing that the recommendations in the Report of the Commission on Nursing should be addressed" in the context of public service pay policy generally."
In truth, there was little to be gained from this kind of approach which, instead of recognising the nurses' special case, drew their pay demands back into the overall battle on public service pay. Last night's decision is an acknowledgment that the nurses' case is unique because of the scale of change required of them.
The Government is now on much firmer ground: it is honouring the spirit of its agreement with the nurses while also making it abundantly clear that copycat claims will not be tolerated.
It appears that last night's move came after high-level contacts between Government and the Congress of Trade Unions. In itself, this is an encouraging development, indicating how the trade union movement also see the nurses as a special case. Most fair-minded trade unionists accept the enormous changes that have taken place in the nursing profession in terms of training, skills and responsibilities in the past quarter-century. Not all are anxious to exploit the nurses' pay settlement to press their own case.
The Government is right to insist that any award to the nurses must be ring-fenced but it can help to avert any fallout by dealing in an imaginative and flexible way with the public service pay issue. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has already pointed the way by promising that the next national agreement would incorporate a review of the negotiating system for the public service. The clear signal that the Budget will deliver greater take-home pay for low earners through tax cuts and a new system of tax credits should also help to avert confrontation. The Government must now try to build on this approach: it is the best means of maintaining the partnership process which is at the heart of our current economic success.