Chris Dooley examines the background to the Taoiseach's initiative to avert a transport stoppage
When the Taoiseach left for Washington yesterday for his St Patrick's Day meeting with President Bush, he was entitled to think that at least one domestic problem had been put to bed.
Not for the first time, he had successfully intervened to keep the airports functioning and, for good measure this time, bus and rail services in operation.
Or so he must have thought. No sooner was he airborne, however, when his initiative threatened to unravel.
With a six-hour airports stoppage and 24-hour bus and rail strike looming, Mr Ahern had written to the president of SIPTU, Mr Jack O'Connor, late on Monday.
The letter was a response to assurances on a number of issues sought by Mr O'Connor earlier the same day.
A key concern of the union was the stated intention of the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, to publish before Easter legislation paving the way for the break up of Aer Rianta.
Unions are still waiting for the Government to provide the financial information it is relying on to support the decision to break up the company.
They have been promised they will have time to examine it and make observations before the break-up proceeds.
Mr Brennan's apparent determination to push ahead with the legislation was one of the factors cited by SIPTU in its decision to organise tomorrow's stoppage at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. In his letter, however, Mr Ahern said that while it had been the Minister's target to publish the legislation before Easter, the timeframe had changed.
Mr Brennan, he said, now intended to finalise the legislation in time to introduce it in the Dáil "early after Easter".
As the Dáil is not due to sit after the Easter recess until April 27th, senior SIPTU officials were satisfied that enough time would be available to examine the financial information sought.
After considering the matter overnight, the union's top officials decided yesterday morning to call off the airports strike, as well as other actions planned for later dates.
The decision was announced by counsel for the union in the High Court, where Ryanair was about to begin a challenge to force the union to cancel the action.
It was also communicated to officers in the union's Aer Rianta branch, who reacted with anger both to the decision itself and the fact that they weren't consulted about it.
Mr O'Connor then headed for Dublin Airport, where he attended a stormy meeting of shop stewards. One person present described it as "the most angry meeting I have ever seen".
Branch officers and shop stewards told Mr O'Connor that Mr Ahern's assurances did not go far enough.
They wanted a more specific guarantee that they would have time to examine the financial information, and they also sought commitments about the future of the Shannon stopover.
They insisted that these clarifications be sought from the Taoiseach immediately. As he set foot in Washington, Mr Ahern knew that this particular domestic fire was not quite extinguished yet.
Meanwhile, SIPTU's CIÉ strike committee was in marathon session, poring over other aspects of Mr Ahern's letter.
In what senior SIPTU officials regarded as a highly significant promise, the Taoiseach said the Government would engage with the unions to ensure that the planned CIÉ and Aer Rianta reforms did not become a "race to the bottom" in terms of employment standards.