Ireland’s planned public sector strike will cancel routine HSE care on 14 October

Ireland’s planned 24-hour public sector strike on Wednesday 14 October is expected to involve more than 300,000 workers and disrupt schools and health services. The Health Service Executive (HSE) says it has cancelled routine care for that day, while emergency and critical services will remain available. The stoppage is part of a dispute over a new public sector pay agreement after the previous deal expired in June.

The strike was still scheduled as of Saturday 10 October. The Irish Times reported that up to 150,000 medical appointments could be cancelled, citing briefings circulated in Government. An HSE spokesperson did not confirm that figure. The HSE’s own notice establishes which types of care are affected, but gives no total number of cancellations.

Which HSE services are cancelled on 14 October?

The HSE says all routine hospital appointments, planned surgeries and routine hospital procedures on 14 October are cancelled. It is contacting patients directly and says appointments will be rescheduled as quickly as possible. Community and primary care appointments are also cancelled, including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, dental services, chronic disease management and routine appointments with public health nurses.

Day services will close too. The HSE lists centres supporting older people; disability and mental health day services for adults and children; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; antenatal clinics; and rehabilitation services. Its notice says only emergency and critical healthcare services will be available during the stoppage.

Why are public sector unions striking?

The unions are pursuing a successor to the public sector pay agreement that expired on 30 June. RTÉ reported that the earlier deal, agreed in January 2024, provided for pay increases of 10.25% over two and a half years and included a 1% element for bargaining within individual sectors. RTÉ said substantive talks on a successor had not begun by October.

The dispute concerns both the money available and how negotiations should start. RTÉ reported that unions want meaningful pay commitments discussed at the beginning of talks, along with a mechanism to protect wages against inflation during a multi-year deal. The Government has called those demands preconditions and said it cannot enter talks with a predetermined outcome.

An 8 October circular from the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants relayed the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Public Services Committee’s response to the Budget 2027 allocation. The committee said the €1.2 billion provision covers public service pay and pensions and includes carryover costs from the 2024–2026 agreement. It called the allocation insufficient for a credible new deal and claimed public service wages had fallen 5% behind prices over the peak inflation period from 2021 to 2025, with a further gap in 2026. That calculation is the committee’s claim.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the €1.2 billion provision could serve as a basis for negotiations and that the strikes were unnecessary, according to The Irish Times. The newspaper reported that the Department of Public Expenditure said officials were available to discuss issues without preconditions. The department said contingency planning was under way to maintain services, while acknowledging disruption, particularly in healthcare.

What remains uncertain before the walkout?

RTÉ expects school closures as well as cancelled hospital appointments. The Irish Times reported that Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton said schools had been contacted about communicating with parents, and she urged the sides to meet. The precise scope of school closures was not established in the reporting available on Saturday. Parents should rely on communications from their schools for arrangements affecting them.

A second strike is scheduled for Wednesday 21 October. The association’s circular lists both dates as notified 24-hour stoppages. The Irish Times also reported warnings from union figures about possible further action in November if negotiations do not begin. Those later actions remain plans or possibilities; neither the 14 October walkout nor any escalation has yet happened.

Whether talks can avert Wednesday’s strike remains unresolved. For patients, the immediate confirmed change is the HSE’s cancellation of non-urgent services on 14 October, alongside its commitment to keep emergency and critical care available. The estimate of up to 150,000 cancelled appointments has not been confirmed by the HSE.