Public servants to strike tomorrow

PUBLIC servants across Carlow will join hundreds of thousands of colleagues nationwide in withdrawing their labour tomorrow (Wednesday) in what is expected to be the first nationwide public sector strike since the financial crisis.

Teachers, nurses, doctors, civil servants, local authority staff and workers at state agencies will take part in the 24-hour stoppage in a dispute with the government over a new public service pay deal. Unions estimate that between 300,000 and 400,000 workers will be on strike. Gardaí and members of the Defence Forces will not take part.

In Carlow, one of the most visible pickets will be at Teagasc Oak Park, which houses the organisation’s national head office and its crop science department.

Colum Kennedy, a research staff member and SIPTU representative for the technical section of Oak Park, told  The Nationalist that around 200 people work at Oak Park, 70 to 80 of them in research. Pickets will run from 8am to 3pm at Whites gate and the gate lodge entrance.

Mr Kennedy said most research work would be interrupted or postponed, although derogations are in place for animal welfare and health and safety. Teagasc has said it will have to postpone most public events.

Asked what a fair deal would look like, Mr Kennedy said members wanted the government to honour the existing agreement, address pay for 2026, provide assurances on the cost of living for the duration of any deal and guarantee their jobs would not be outsourced.

“We would rather not be striking,” he said.

Parents can expect widespread disruption to schools. The INTO said more than 50,000 of its members in the Republic will strike and that every member will picket their school alongside members of other unions.

In the health service, hospital procedures, outpatient clinics and primary care services are expected to be disrupted, while critical, time-sensitive care such as urgent cancer treatment will continue. The most recent official figures, from August, put health service staffing in the Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary area at 6,319 people, around half of them in acute hospital services.

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the union’s ongoing work-to-rule was “exposing just how many gaps in the health service are currently being filled by the goodwill of our members.” The previous public service agreement expired on 30 June. Unions want talks to begin with pay and the cost of living, while the government has said it will not accept preconditions and wants to discuss reforms and fiscal parameters first.

The €1.2 billion set aside in Budget 2027 for public service pay, which includes carry-over costs from the expired deal, has been dismissed by unions as insufficient.

“At best, it will provide a 2.5% increase next year when inflation is running at 4.1%,” said Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan.

Public expenditure minister Jack Chambers used his budget speech to call on unions to re-engage “as a matter of urgency” and call off the action.

A second strike is planned for Wednesday 21 October. Mr Kennedy said SIPTU, which represents some Oak Park staff, has already given notice for that date, and Fórsa and Unite are expected to follow. Mr Callinan has said unions are examining options for industrial action into November.