There have been a few politicians who mumbled that, er, shouldn't it really be the job of the Oireachtas to debate and decide policy as put to it by the Government.
And the more red-blooded economists have always argued that it was a denial of their beloved free market. But for as long as the economy kept booming, partnership was always going to prosper - after all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Now, however, it is broken - and may soon be beyond fixing. The cause is the benchmarking process. Much has been written about this in recent months and there is no point in rehearsing the detailed arguments again. Suffice here to look at the outcome, which is average increases of 8.9 per cent for public servants, on top of the 7 per cent to be paid in normal wage increases under the new national programme. The money falls due to be paid at a time when the Exchequer is strapped for cash, and, instead of the productivity improvements promised in return for the money, we have been given "action plans" written in impenetrable "civilservice-ese".
Partnership has been based on identifying common interests of the different groups involved - employers, trade unions, farmers and more recently those representing the community and voluntary sector. It has involved clear trade-offs and understandings and led to outcomes which were, to use business jargon, "win-win". Or to use Gay Byrne's old phrase - they gave something to everyone in the audience.
Initially, in the late 1980s, all sides agreed to pull together in the aptly named "Programme for National Recovery". The national debt was at record levels, the IMF was at the door and partnership was born against a palpable sense of crisis. The payback came in subsequent programmes which were based on the formula of wage moderation in return for tax reductions. This meant higher living standards for those in work. Disposable income - take-home pay after tax and PRSI - more than doubled for most employees between 1987 and 2000. Meanwhile, reasonably moderate wage increases maintained competitiveness, boosted growth and helped unemployment to fall sharply.
The benchmarking deal shows that the win-win formula has now become win-lose. The pay increases for public servants will involve higher taxes and lower spending in other areas, to the detriment of the private sector, consumers of public services and the economy as a whole. The economy will be damaged - the only question is by how much. John FitzGerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute has estimated that due to benchmarking the unemployment rate by 2005 could be 1.2 percentage points - or about 24,000 people - higher than it would otherwise have been.
The assumptions behind this estimate can be argued about - for example it is not clear if benchmarking will spark follow-on pay claims in other areas of the economy - but the overall conclusion cannot be disputed. If there is an increase in the public sector wage bill without a resulting rise in productivity, then there will be an overall cost to competitiveness and the economy.
(Naturally this did not stop Charlie McCreevy issuing a statement yesterday with new official economic forecasts which stated soberly "that if our economy is to grow in accordance with its potential, it is essential that we regain our competitiveness". )
So the "win-win" partnership formula has been undermined. And badly. Strategically, the Government could hardly have been more ham-fisted. Suffice to say that it is generally not a good idea in wage negotiations to get some experts to publish the recommended increases first, and then go looking for the pay-back in terms of increased productivity afterwards.
The process as conducted will also drive a wedge between the "partners". The rest of us are being asked to fund generous pay increases for which no supporting evidence was published and which are justified in language which nobody understands - and appears to mean very little.
Communication is central to any partnership and if there are logical reasons for the pay increases recommended, or genuine concessions behind the "action plans" which will actually improve public services, then they are not being got across. Whatever the reality of what has happened, the perception will grow that it has been a "ready-up" to give public servants big pay increases.
It is a potentially fatal blow to partnership. IBEC, the employers' body, now appears to realise it should not have signed up to the latest deal and has taken to calling on the benchmarking payments to be delayed. Watch for it getting more and more agitated in the months ahead as its members realise the price. Meanwhile the pressure on the Government due to the deterioration of public services will build and build. The various committees and institutions surrounding partnership will rumble on. But unless someone can reinvent the formula, partnership as we know it will not survive much longer.