Public sector unions have suspended next Wednesday’s planned strike action following discussions with the Government.
More than 300,000 public sector workers including nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants, engaged in strike action last Wednesday over delays in agreeing a new public sector pay deal.
In a statement earlier, the Public Services Committee of ICTU said that following discussions with Government representatives “over the last 24 hours, a meeting of the 19 unions affiliated to the ICTU PSC has agreed to suspend strike action due to take place next Wednesday”.
PSC Chair Kevin Callinan said that the Government agreed to appoint independent third party Kevin Foley, to carry out “an intensive and focused exercise aimed at constructing a basis for formal negotiations at the Workplace Relations Commission”.
Mr Callinan said that Mr Foley will be assisted by one trade union and one employer nominee, and that the process may get under way tomorrow morning.
The Government confirmed this evening that Kevin Foley, Oonagh Buckley and Owen Reidy have been appointed to undertake a “focused and intensive exercise with the parties aimed at constructing a basis for formal negotiations at the Workplace Relations Commission”.
Mr Callinan added that while next Wednesday’s strike action has been suspended, the work-to-rule action will continue.
Watch: RTÉ’s Work and Technology Correspondent Brian O’Donovan reports on this evening’s developments
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In a statement this evening, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he hopes the initiative “will allow for all sides to move forward together into meaningful negotiation and ultimately to a successful conclusion”.
“I hugely value the contributions our public service workers make. They are the backbone of our healthcare, social care, education and so many other sectors.
“There is now a real opportunity to make progress where both parties are prepared to come together and explore the various issues, with a genuine commitment to dialogue,” he said.
Watch: Minister welcomes the decision to suspend next week’s strike action
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said there is “a real opportunity to make progress” as both parties come together.
“I am confident there is a genuine commitment to dialogue and I hope that this initiative will now allow both sides to move forward together into meaningful negotiation,” he said in a statement this evening.
Speaking earlier to RTÉ News, Minister Chambers said the decision to suspend next week’s strike “allows the time and space for this process to progress”, saying all involved need to “work together” and agree a successor public pay deal.
The Fianna Fáil TD confirmed that Kevin Foley had been agreed as the independent third party official to adjudicate talks on establishing a mechanism for later negotiations, which are hoped by unions to take days rather than weeks.
Minister Chambers said this process will “begin this weekend” and that “I think everyone wants to see us get around the table” quickly in order to agree a new pay deal.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Mr Callinan said that he and his three colleague officers of the PSC were able to brief unions over the past 48 hours.
He said he had been in contact with the minister and told him that if his public statements regarding the pay talks were “serious and sincere” then there were grounds for a breakthrough.
“Crucially, this afternoon the Taoiseach emerged from the European Council meeting in Brussels to telephone me,” he said.
“We had a long conversation where I impressed upon him the way in which cost-of-living pressures were affecting our members. And I believe now that the Government have been listening.
“Obviously, we need to test that in practice in a talks process,” he said.
Watch: Fórsa’s Kevin Callinan speaks to RTÉ’s Six One News
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The 24-hour work stoppage two days ago caused widespread disruption including the closure of schools and the cancellation of thousands of hospital appointments.
The most recent public-sector pay deal ran from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026 and provided for pay increases of up to 10.25% over the course of a two-and-a-half-year period.
