Election footing?

Sir, – I note the INMO have secured 26 midwifery roles and 64 staff-nurse positions at the Regional Midland Hospital in Mullingar.

The Minister for Education has moved from a proposed 100 per cent teacher-assessment of Junior Cert marks to 40 per cent.

Either the public sector unions are all-powerful or we are on an election footing.

If an election footing, then the public sector unions, faced by a Government with no appetite for conflict, will drive a coach and four through the savings promised to the taxpayer under the Haddington Road agreement. – Yours, etc, DONAL O’SULLIVAN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.