SERVICES TO the public in Government departments, offices of the Revenue Commissioners and social welfare local offices will be curtailed or unavailable completely in some cases today as a result of a one-day strike by lower-paid civil servants.
About 13,000 members of the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU) are to hold the one-day stoppage as part of a campaign of protest against the Governments new pension levy.
The Government has said that, as a result of the strike, the normal level of services at public offices in Civil Service departments will be curtailed.
All public offices of the Revenue Commissioners including Customs, vehicle registration tax and tax inquiry offices will be closed. Revenue public phone services will also be unavailable today.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that passport offices in Dublin and Cork will be closed today. It said that in emergency cases the number to contact is 01-4780822.
All social welfare local offices will be closed to the public. However, smaller branch offices – which are operated by private individuals under contract – will deal with welfare recipients as normal.
A full list of local and branch offices is available at the department’s website (www.welfare.ie).
Telephone and walk-in services at the department’s regional headquarters offices in Dublin, Cork, Dundalk, Waterford and Letterkenny will be disrupted also.
The Department of Social and Family Affairs said yesterday that every effort would be made to ensure payments were not affected by the industrial action.
Most recipients receive their weekly payment by electronic fund transfer into a bank or financial institution or through electronic payment or by using a book at their post office.
The department said the loss of a full day’s processing time may lead to short-term knock-on effects on processing and the payment of claims.
All welfare offices will reopen as normal tomorrow.
Following todays strike, the CPSU is expected to hold a regional protest action on March 9th.
The union is also planning to place an embargo on co-operation with a performance management system in the Civil Service.
The CPSU last night said a letter purporting to come from the union, which was circulated in the Department of Justice and which directed members to block entrances and to “not allow access to picketed buildings by any means necessary” was a forgery.
CPSU general secretary Blair Horan said last night that its members stood to lose between €40 and €60 a week under the levy and they simply could not afford this.
“CPSU supports the Ictu approval of a social solidarity pact and know that they will not be immune from this crisis,” he said.
Union to picket Leinster House
THE BUSINESS of the Oireachtas will not be affected by pickets placed by members of the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU) outside the gates of Leinster House today.
About 80 of the staff in the Oireachtas are members of the union. Most are clerical officers, staff officers and telephonists.
The CPSU will place pickets outside both gates of the Leinster House complex, at Kildare Street and at Merrion Street.
However, other unions representing those employed in the Oireachtas have instructed their members to pass the picket, as the CPSU action has not been sanction by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Sinn Féin last night said its four TDs, one Senator and its staff based at Leinster House would all respect the picket placed by CPSU members.
Politicians representing other political parties are expected to be in attendance for Dáil and Seanad business. Some parties, including Labour, have allowed their staff discretion not to pass the picket. However, any who are employed by the Oireachtas will lose a day's pay.
A notice posted in the Press Gallery advising National Union of Journalists members not to pass the picket was withdrawn yesterday after a number of journalists objected on the grounds that the notice had no official status.
A spokesman for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission said it has put in place a number of arrangements to ensure that business can proceed as normal today, including redeployment of staff where appropriate.
HARRY McGEE