Strong leadership needed to avoid a winter of discontent

CALM heads will need to prevail if we are to avoid a winter of discontent and a wave of industrial action the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the 1980s.

Right now the Government is facing the prospect of enormously disruptive separate strike actions by gardaí, teachers, nurses and doctors.

The country is facing into a winter of turmoil and the Government appears woefully unprepared and, in some cases, actually unwilling to deal with the steadily worsening situation.

Worryingly, there seems to be a sense of collective denial in Government buildings about just how disruptive these strikes could be. There also seems to be little understanding of the depth of the anger and frustration that is motivating the strikes which is somewhat ironic given that it has partly been Fine Gael’s own propaganda that helped inspire them.

For several years – and in particular during the last General Election – Enda Kenny and Fine Gael have been trying to hammer home the message that, thanks to their expert stewardship, Ireland is well on the road to recovery. They claim that the rising economic tide is set to lift all boats and soon the citizens who struggled though the depression years will once again be living the good life they had enjoyed before the crash.

The problem is, while Ireland’s economy is slowly improving, the vaunted recovery is starting from a pitifully low base and huge swathes of the country have yet to see and feel any tangible benefit.

Now having had this recovery mantra rammed down their throats for months on end, many workers – especially those in the front lines of the civil service – are demanding that the Government makes good on all its positive spin.

The message to the leaders is simple: either our boats rise as promised or we’ll sink yours.

There are many justified reasons behind the strikes and simply hiding behind the Lansdowne Road Agreement will not be enough for the Government to survive the looming crisis.

Some of the unions’ demands will have to be met but a delicate balance must be struck. The unions’ leaders are not stupid. They are well aware that the Government coffers are far from swollen and that any settlement they can reach will be limited.

However, they appear absolutely determined that their members will – after years of hardship – achieve some fair play.

From their comments, many Government politicians seem to underestimate the unions’ determination and the anger of the thousands of workers who are set to down tools. They need to publically acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and soon.

The seeming lack of urgency in preparing for the unprecedented garda strikes is deeply concerning.

A worrying development too is Enda Kenny’s recent declaration that he has no intention of stepping down as Taoiseach and Fine Gael in the near future. Rumblings around Leinster House had suggested that Fine Gael rebels had been holding off on launching a disruptive leadership challenge on the understanding that Kenny would exit the stage gracefully in the coming months.

Kenny’s comments appear certain to trigger a heave in the near future. At a time when the Government’s attention needs to be focussed on resolving the public sector pay crisis, the minds of Fine Gael’s most senior members may well be concentrated on their own chances of advancement amid a bitter internal battle.

This is something the country simply cannot afford.