Passport offices in Dublin and Cork were closed this afternoon as part of the industrial action being carried out by lower-paid civil servants.
The Department of Foreign Affairs had said passport collections from the offices had to take place before 1pm and that no new passport applications would be accepted until Monday.
Public counters at Department of Social and Family Affairs offices were also closed as part of the action.
A ban on answering phones was put in place in the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Department of Finance, the Department of Education and the Department of the Environment for a period today.
Elsewhere, the HSE today met the country’s largest public sector union, Impact, to seek clarification on its plans to escalate industrial action.
In a statement tonight, the HSE said that it had sought derogations from the union to ensure that disruption was minimised and patient safety was not compromised due to the ban on answering phones for set periods of time next week.
It said Impact has agreed to grant derogations for switchboards and for all direct line emergency services such as emergency departments. The union has also agreed to direct members to screen calls related to critical services on an hourly basis to establish whether a direct action is required.
However , the HSE warned people may experience difficulty in making contact with HSE services once the intensification of industrial action comes next week.
Impact has told the HSE that from the beginning of March its members will refuse to answer phones for specific periods on a rotating basis and refuse to carry out work associated with posts currently vacant. The union has also proposed rolling work stoppages across the public service, although this action has not yet been agreed with other unions.
The HSE said yesterday it was seriously concerned at the potential impact of the intensification of the dispute on health services. It is worried at the implications of the phone ban on emergency departments as well as on social work and childcare services and that it may seek exemptions for these areas.
The threat from mid-ranking civil servants was revealed in a memo to branch secretaries yesterday from the general secretary of the Public Service Executive Union, Tom Geraghty. He said the sub-committee of the union’s executive which was overseeing the dispute believed that current actions could be “pushed a little further”.
“In particular, one action that appears to be impacting is in those branches that are refusing to prepare material for responses to ministerial representations and parliamentary questions.
“At this stage most of the departments that process large volumes of such representations are refusing to co-operate with the preparation of this material. The sub-committee is of the view that all remaining branches should, and could, now look at engaging in this action.
“Furthermore, the sub-committee is of the view that this action could be extended to the preparation of briefing material for adjournment debates and to the preparation of ministerial speeches, where this is not the case already.”
