The time should be long gone when "profit" is a dirty word. Yet some of the analysis being aired at the ICTU conference in Killarney this week displays the attitude that profit, like Proudhon's property, involves some sort of theft from workers. We should become fully comfortable with profits, because there are now a lot more about, and also because we have wider issues to deal with. In the last six months, Irish businesses have paid more corporation tax than in any other such period before - €1.9 billion (£1.5 billion), a full €600 million more than in the first six months of last year. Of all types of taxes paid, other than a strange category called "unallocated Tax Receipts", corporation tax increased the most in percentage terms, at 38 per cent. Next largest was the increase in capital gains tax, at 34 per cent.

A key question about the levels of profits indicated by these corporation tax receipts is where they came from. This is important, particularly in the context of calls for higher wage levels for workers across the board. It is problematic if the higher profits came from non-union international manufacturers, while less stellar profits were being made by unionised companies. Should some companies bear a higher wage burden because others make more profits? We know that increased exports have come largely from the pharmaceutical industry, Pfizer and its Viagra pill in particular, and the computer sector. What if the same were the case for the profits generating major increases in corporation tax?

There is no sufficiently detailed breakdown of corporation tax made available by the Revenue to answer this question. The Revenue does provide a simple breakdown by manufacturing and IFSC companies paying the 10 per cent rate, and some other businesses. The 10 per cent rate has yielded between 54 per cent and 56 per cent of corporation tax in recent years. The other categories include non-IFSC financials, which contribute around 2024 per cent of corporation tax, and distribution and catering, about 15 per cent.

The fact that the 10 per cent rate has consistently yielded over half of corporation tax underlines the soundness of the tactic of moving to a low, general corporation rate of 12.5 per cent. It also points to the increasing importance of the IFSC in the economy. The 10 per cent sector includes some large companies which are not bound by the terms of partnership agreements. This must be remembered in national pay bargaining. A key consideration is surely the profitability of individual companies, not the volume of profits generated by business in general, and especially when a large part of those profits may be coming from non-partnership companies.

It is critical what the bargaining is about - pay or profits? ICTU has developed its thinking on a bargaining approach which is aimed at the increased use of profit-sharing. ICTU president Peter Cassells gave considerable emphasis to it this week. This is more sustainable than seeking to participate in a company's growth by large wage increases, which add to costs and depress profits.

The appointment of Ms Inez McCormack from the UNISON union in Belfast as the next president of ICTU - the first woman, the first Northern union leader - underlines a shift from the narrow issue of wage bargaining. If the debate goes in the direction she would like, we will see less argument over profits and wages and more policy-driven debate about how permanently to bring in those who are outside the tent of employer-union negotiations altogether. This would mean prioritising benefits for those who are probably not members of unions, and challenging union members, as well as employers, to look beyond the defence of narrow interests.

Employers should be able to find common ground with union leaders in this approach, so long as the blunt instrument of increased social costs on businesses is not used. On the union side, this thinking recognises that relative to others, many union members are really quite comfortably-off and not so much in need of social protection.

This is the more political, strategic ground of what type of Ireland we want after we have earned our wages and our profits. It is better than arguing over slices of the profits cake, and a more profound debate.

Oliver O'Connor is managing editor, Fintel Publications