One thing the Budget row has thrown into sharp focus is the relative power of trade union groups. Time was that SIPTU, now the largest union in the State, was merely a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and it was the latter which called the tune.

No more. When SIPTU stayed away from discussions on a successor to Partnership 2000, its leaders failed to apprise Peter Cassells, general secretary of ICTU, of their intentions, although they said they had spent the weekend trying to do so.

For the ICTU delegation, finding itself comprehensively outflanked by one of its member unions must have been all the more galling when the IBEC delegation, representing employers' interests, agreed to continue the meeting but made it clear there could be no deal without SIPTU, whose 200,000 members form 40 per cent of ICTU membership.

At least now we know who rules the roost in Liberty Hall.