The process was initiated in 1987, following a period of high inflation and weak economic growth which led to increased emigration and unsustainable government borrowing and national debt.
Unions which had previously opposed or abstained from the pay agreements adopted a much more supportive stance in the face of rapidly rising unemployment and deteriorating public finances.
Concern at exchequer deficits of over €20 billion, resulting from the collapse of the construction speculative bubble, dominated political discourse and over two decades of social corporatism was continuously questioned during 2009.
In June 2009 the government and IBEC failed to secure agreement with ICTU to amend the transition pay terms to reflect the impact of an economic depression and deflation in consumer prices.
Union members are now more likely to be over 45, married with children, Irish-born with third-level qualifications and working in semi-professional occupations, especially in the health, education or public administration sectors, rather than the traditional image of being lower-paid vulnerable, low-skill workers.
[3] Instead of reviving the Christian-democratic form of corporatism which dominated Ireland's social partnership, ICTU leaders renewed their proposals for a social-democratic arrangement modelled on some Nordic states welfare systems.
In March 2010, under the banner of "social dialogue", the ICTU public service unions and the Government negotiated a three-year pay-freeze and the potential claw-back of some of the imposed pay-cuts in return for verified efficiencies and increased flexible working rosters and mobility of up to 45 km between workplaces.
Unlike earlier "social partnership" procedures the main private sector employer bodies were not involved and the negotiations were facilitated by the state Labour Relations Commission (LRC).