Council Is Prepared For Tomorrow's Strike Action - CEO

Wexford County Council is warning the public to expect delays when calling council services during tomorrow's strike action.

Industrial action by public sector workers will lead to the closure of council offices tomorrow and a reduction in the services available.

Emergency services will still respond and some issues like planning and motor tax can be amended online.

CEO of the Council Eddie Taaffe says citizens can still call the council but they may face a long wait

"All our numbers will be operational as usual but we will have limited staff availability so people should be prepared for extra delays when it comes to answering the phones or people getting back to them.

"As I say, we will be operating with limited resources."

Mr Taaffe also says people shouldn't be afraid to contact the emergency services in a crisis situation during the strikes.

"They still will be operational and people shouldn't hesitate to ring 999 if they do have an emergency.

"The Fire Service will still respond to emerency calls and so will our roads services but just to re-iterate, our council offices will be closed to the public and that includes libraries and civic amenity sites."

The CEO says he hopes to see a resolution to the public sector pay dispute.

Mr Taaffe says it's not an ideal situation for anyone but they will deal with it the best they can:

"None of the workers want this dispute and we hope that it will be resolved relatively quickly.

"Obviously, this is a part of a wider public service issue between the Government and the public sector unions.

"We just ask for people's paitence and forbearance during these periods of industrial action."

Wexford County Council will be prepared if more strikes come later this month according to its CEO.

The first day of strike action plan by unions will take place tomorrow while further strikes are threatened for the 21st of October.

Mr Taaffe says they will be prepared if the strike action escalates again:

"Yes, we are planning for a second day of industrial action on October 21st and the same arrangements that apply tomorrow will also apply on Wednesday of next week as well."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.