"I think it's pretty obvious the way Congress is going to vote," said Mr Noel O'Neill of UCATT. "We are going through something that has a sense of ritual," said Mr Peter McLoone of IMPACT. "What we say here doesn't make any difference because the votes have been counted."
Nevertheless say it they did. Twenty six speakers got up to tell the audience of 400 what they thought of Partnership 2000. Everyone knew how each union was going to vote but they told us anyway. It was a decision that could have been made by fax and telephone, but ritual and tradition is still important in dealing with these matters.
Liberty Hall was not quite full. The lighting was dull. The rousing music before the ritual began was played at a low volume. The general secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, promised an "open and lively debate".
Most recited prepared scripts into the microphone as delegates drifted in and out of the hall. Mr Michael O'Reilly (ATGWU) and a couple of other opponents of the deal produced isolated outbreaks of rhetorical excitement, against the general sense of going through the motions.
Mobile phones rang from time to time. About 90 per cent of the audience was male. The lobby outside contained a grey mist of cigarette smoke. Four different types of No Smoking sign - one particularly belligerent - hung silent and ignored on the walls. The pungent smell of the gents' toilet, heavily masked by disinfectant, added to the atmosphere.
There were many loud ties among the speakers that seemed to have come straight from the Ruairi Quinn collection. Double breasted suits - so much the fashion a few years ago - were commonplace.
As the meeting approached the end, it was announced that Mr Joe O'Toole of the INTO would be the final speaker. Light hearted booing, mingled with some sniggering, greeted this news. Last Monday Mr O'Toole's union decided to back Partnership 200 after the Government sanctioned 3,000 new promotional posts for primary teachers. The other teacher unions were furious at what they regarded as a side deal.
Several speakers made indirect critical references to Mr O'Toole's deal. Mr Jim Dorney of the TUI was more direct, criticising "side deals" with which the Government had won the support of the INTO for Partnership 2000. References to the INTO and Mr O'Toole in speeches caused ripples of disapproval throughout the morning.
Mr O'Toole knows how to deal with a hostile crowd and get a laugh at the same time. He set off in full flight, cramming an impossible number of words into his six minute slot.
He waved his arms around, regularly took his glasses off and put them on again, drowned out the hecklers with a wall of sound and said he had done his job, which was to get the best deal for his members. "We took nothing belonging to anyone else and we didn't eat anyone's dinner along the way," he said.
They voted by show of hands. The deal was approved by 217 votes to 134. The rousing music struck up again quietly, and everyone shuffled out of the hall and down the stairs.