{"id":654921,"date":"2026-10-14T23:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T23:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/654921\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T23:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T23:02:09","slug":"government-seeks-negotiation-process-to-avoid-second-round-of-public-sector-strikes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/654921\/","title":{"rendered":"Government seeks \u2018negotiation process\u2019 to avoid second round of public sector strikes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Efforts are under way to unblock the path to negotiations on a new public sector pay deal after public services were brought to a standstill by nationwide industrial action<\/a> on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

It is expected that contacts between Government<\/a> and unions will now intensify as officials seek to find a way forward that could avoid next week\u2019s scheduled second day of strikes.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday evening, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> said there was \u201ca sense of goodwill and a willingness to get a resolution on this\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government is open for negotiations and open for dialogue, we want to get into a negotiation process,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will engage and see if we can find a basis and a process that would be satisfactory to all sides that enable negotiations to take place and avoid any action next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been suggestions in Government about a possible preliminary process at the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> that could see a draft agenda for negotiations agreed, but officials remained tight-lipped on Wednesday night, citing the sensitivity of the issue. Union sources played down the suggestion of a fresh initiative from Government, though it is understood informal contacts are continuing.<\/p>\n

F\u00f3rsa<\/a> general secretary Kevin Callinan said that recent comments by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers<\/a> suggested \u201cthere may be a pathway\u201d to negotiations on a new deal.<\/p>\n

Callinan chairs the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu)<\/a>, which is due to meet on Thursday to review the situation. <\/p>\n

Some individual unions whose members participated in the strike action met on Wednesday night to take stock and consider how to proceed if no agreement is reached and next week\u2019s strike goes ahead.<\/p>\n

Chambers, though, told RT\u00c9 there was \u201cintensive work that\u2019s going on in the background\u201d, and \u201cthat in the next day or so we\u2019ll be able to set out a further context\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Public opinion may shift if the second strike goes aheadOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m conscious that we have to progress that in the coming hours and, indeed, in the next day or so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He continued to strike a more conciliatory tone, saying he understood the \u201csignificant pressure\u201d that public sector workers were under, adding, \u201cThey need a new pay deal delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the aim of Government was for a new agreement that is a \u201cfair, meaningful and credible deal\u201d for workers, but added that any deal had to be \u201csustainable and affordable\u201d for the State.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cabsolutely\u201d happy for the issue of pay to be dealt with as a priority in any negotiations \u2013 a key demand of the unions \u2013 but he noted that union leaders had accepted that \u201cnothing is agreed until everything is agreed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Chambers praised public sector workers for doing \u201can incredible job\u201d and said he hoped \u201cwe\u2019ll find a way forward\u201d in the \u201cnext day or so\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unions claimed widespread public support on the picket lines as industrial action shut schools, colleges, local and national Government offices and severely restricted health services across the country yesterday. The HSE<\/a> said that appointments cancelled yesterday would be \u201cprioritised and rescheduled as soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Health service workers claim no choice but to strikeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

However, it indicated that uncertainty about next week\u2019s planned stoppage would impact its plans. \u201cWe ask patients to bear with us as there may be further delays until there is greater certainty regarding future industrial action,\u201d the HSE said in a statement. <\/p>\n

More than 150 schools in the Dublin<\/a> and Kildare<\/a> regions received threatening emails warning of potential attacks<\/a> on Wednesday. The motive was not clear and the schools continued to operate as normal while taking advice from garda\u00ed. <\/p>\n

Opposition parties all declared support for the strikes and urged the Government to enter negotiations and agree pay increases for public servants.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside a closed Leinster House, Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a> said the Government had \u201cplayed a really terrible and disrespectful game of chicken with 300,000 workers that we all rely on … I think you can feel the really strong sense of public support for all of the workers\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Efforts are under way to unblock the path to negotiations on a new public sector pay deal after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1555,1523,2120,61,60,4106,13808,3658,1843,43,6465],"class_list":["post-654921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-forsa","tag-government","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-congress-of-trade-unions-ictu","tag-jack-chambers","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}