The strike is off, the deal is done, nobody seems entirely delighted. A new public-sector pay agreement was reached at the eleventh hour, offering 10.75% over two years and nine months, but union members still have to vote on it. There are already rumblings of disquiet.

Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews and Rónán Duffy look at who blinked first, whether the deal will actually pass, and how the government spent this week putting out a series of industrial-relations fires.

Also: Simon Harris dusts off some Fine Gael greatest hits with his dole comments, and the government suddenly remembers it still has a 2026 Climate Action Plan to publish. In November. Whoops.