IT'S the best part of two decades since Bertie Ahern really made his name on the national stage when he intervened in the last major ESB strike. As a young and hungry minister for labour, Ahern earned plaudits and the gratitude of a nation for his role in getting the lights switched back on.

There is a certain irony then that the potential of industrial action is now threatening to undermine his attempt to win an historic third successive term for his coalition government.

Ahern's career really took off in the wake of that ESB strike, but if there is industrial action in the weeks leading up to the general election, it could just as easily bring it to an abrupt end.

Of course, it may not come to that. But at the moment, it looks like a case of the immovable object meeting the irresistible force.

The government and the ESB unions could not be further apart over the energy white paper, published almost two weeks ago.

The six ESB unions seem to be very united in their fierce opposition to the white paper's plan to completely remove the electricity transmission network from ESB ownership to another state company Eirgrid, which currently manages it.

The unions say the move is a break-up of the ESB, which will seriously damage the company and, far from driving down prices for the consumer, will actually lead to increased costs.

Meanwhile, natural resources minister Noel Dempsey is insisting that there can be no rowing back on the plan, which he says is good for consumers, industry and the economy and is "the right thing to do".

The government's argument is that the change will not result in one job loss for ESB workers; nor does it involve privatisation. They point out that it is the norm in every EU country, bar Greece, for the electricity transmission network to be removed from the main power generating company.

Meeting The two sides will sit down around a table tomorrow and it won't be a meeting for the faint-hearted. Dempsey has a long established reputation for calling things as he sees them, regardless of the consequences.

The unions, meanwhile, left people in little doubt about how seriously they were treating the matter when they issued a statement saying that if the government did not back away from the plans in the white paper, they would take "whatever action is necessary".

They also made it clear that they wouldn't be waiting until after the general election for the issue to be sorted out, leaving the government facing the nightmare scenario of nationwide blackouts in the run-up to the general election.

The key difficulty in the stand-off is that there seems to be little room for manoeuvre. Minister Dempsey insists he has the support of his cabinet colleagues and that the white paper is now government policy.

That genuinely seems to be the case.

Bertie Ahern's closeness to the trade unions is legendary, but if the Taoiseach is worried at the ESB unions' tough line, there was little sign of this last week.

Ahern's government . . . helped in no small measure by the experience and skills of Dermot McCarthy, secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach . . . has generally proved adept at using the various instruments of social partnership to defuse potentially incendiary industrial relations problems in the public sector.

The nurses' dispute is just the latest example of that.

No middle ground But the ESB unions' line is that there is no middle ground on this issue. Brendan Ogle, regional organiser with the ATGWU, didn't mince his words this weekend telling the Sunday Tribune: "We don't think he [Dempsey] is half wrong or three-quarters wrong. We think he's off the wall. We just think it's wrong headed."

The unions seem particularly irritated by the suggestion that the removal of the electricity transmission network from the ESB will bring down prices.

"It's absurd that the government is allowed by the media to portray itself as the body driving down prices. This government and its policies led to a 67% increase in prices. They're the people who got the prices up, " one source said.

All sorts of theories are being raised in trade union circles as to why the government has opted to push this issue with the election imminent. One view is that minister Dempsey went on a solo run, but that appears not to be the case.

Another suggestion is that the government thought that it could solve any union concerns with a financial compensation package for ESB workers.

But there is also a belief in some quarters that the government deliberately picked a fight with the unions on this issue because they are getting negative feedback on the doorsteps about rising ESB prices.

No doubt the government would argue that the truth is somewhat more mundane. That they are committed to opening up the market and proper separation of the grid from the ESB is necessary to show those considering investing in building power plants that the market is truly independent. They are doing, to use the minister's words, "the right thing".

But the difficulty for the government is that competition has, so far at least, resulted only in increases in electricity prices. The timing of the publication of the white paper also continues to puzzle observers. Surely it would have been easier to defer this issue until after the general election?

To be fair to the minister in question, he can never be accused of passing the buck when he believes tough decisions have to be made. But unless some kind of formula can be devised to placate the ESB unions prior to the general election, his government colleagues may be wishing that, for once, Noel Dempsey had taken the easy way out.