Wednesday’s public sector strike called off as unions and Government agree to enter talks

The Government has announced it will enter a “focused and intensive exercise” with unions in a bid to agreeing a basis for formal negotiations on a new public sector wage deal.In parallel, the unions have agreed to suspend the second public sector strike scheduled for next WednesdayThe talks, to set the ground for more detailed discussions, are likely to begin immediately.They will be conducted between Owen Reidy, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; Oonagh Buckley, the secretary general of the Department of the Environment; and Kevin Foley, the chairperson of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and former chair of the Labour Court.READ MORETrade union umbrella group Ictu agreed to suspend next week’s strike after a meeting of its public services committee on Friday afternoon. The agreement was brokered after a series of back-channel communications between Government and unions in recent days. In a statement, the Government said: “Following discussions between representatives of the Government and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, today Mr Kevin Foley, Ms Oonagh Buckley and Mr 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.”