Tough guy is ultimately a pragmatist

Mr Turlough O'Sullivan may not adopt the white collars and patrician demeanour of Mr John Dunne, his predecessor as IBEC director general, but insiders predict that the outspoken industrial relations specialist will be toning down his act.

Mr O'Sullivan (51) has not shied away from controversy in his role as the chief negotiator and spokesman on human resources and industrial relations issues for the employers' body. Most trade unionists still remember his support for Ryanair in its battles with baggage handlers over union recognition, which was seen as "going a bit offside" by his opposite numbers in organised labour. It led some of them to question his judgment.

A former IBEC president offers a different view. Mr O'Sullivan's more controversial comments are usually part of a well orchestrated good-cop bad-cop routine with his former boss.

"Now that he is in John's job he will make the transition to good cop quite easily. He can play either role," predicts the former insider. Mr O'Sullivan's successful accession to the £150,000 (€190,461) post at the top of IBEC has been the result of a long campaign to slowly build support throughout the organisation. He has assiduously been courting the rest of IBEC, becoming involved in both the regional structures and the various divisions. He was also involved in the development of the strategic plan for the body. "He has had a lot of contact with members outside of the human resources area and they have got to know him," explains an IBEC source.

Described as a tough man with a tough exterior, Mr O'Sullivan is ultimately a pragmatist and adopts a practical approach to problem solving.

He is not seen as having any particularly strong ideological views, but keeps his employer's hat very firmly on his head in all his dealings with the unions. "His instinct is always to try and reach an agreement, which means a reasonable compromise," explains one former adversary.

Mr O'Sullivan's whole career has been spent in the area of human resources since he joined the ESB in 1970 as an executive in the industrial relations and personnel department. After stints with Roadstone and Semperit he joined the Federated Union of Employers in 1975. When the FUE merged with the Confederation of Irish Industry in 1993 to form IBEC, he was one of the six former FUE executives appointed as directors of the new body.

Although Mr O'Sullivan has spent most of his life working within the traditional industrial relations machinery he is seen as being more inclined towards more modern industrial relations methods.

"He would have an affinity to some of the larger firms that have joined IBEC in recent years," according to one person who has dealt with him over a number of years. Many of these would be multinationals and non-unionised that prefer to deal directly with staff rather than unions.

Despite this he has shown himself well able to use the traditional industrial relations machinery to his advantage. He is a veteran of most of the high-profile disputes of the last decade, including the bank officials' dispute and the RTE strike. His opposite number in most of those confrontations was Mr Kevin Duffy, the former ICTU assistant secretary who is now vice-chairman of the Labour Court

"I found him to be exceptionally good at solving difficult problems," said Mr Duffy yesterday. Keeping the current national wage agreement airborne may be one of the main problems facing Mr O'Sullivan, but the crisis in the Partnership for Prosperity and Fairness is not the reason he got the job. "If saving the partnership was the issue, they would have left him in his old job," explained a trade union source.

The main challenge facing Mr O'Sullivan is the same one that faces IBEC and Irish business as a whole. It is to ensure that increasing costs as a result of inflation and capacity problems do not make Irish business uncompetitive.

"He has to be the voice of business in that process," explains an IBEC insider.