Dublin: Recession-hit Ireland was severely disrupted by a one-day strike Tuesday as about 250,000 public sector workers protested at planned austerity cuts in next month's budget.
Most schools were shut, non-emergency procedures were cancelled in hospitals, swine flu clinics were suspended and social welfare offices were shut.
Public sector workers did however maintain work in areas badly affected by flooding, including Cork, Ireland's second largest city.
Unions are angry that eight months after they were handed a seven-percent pay cut in an emergency budget pension levy, the government plans another 1.3 billion euro (1.9 billion dollars) in cuts in December's budget.
Prime Minister Brian Cowen told parliament he was "disappointed" by the strike and said that talks between the unions and the government would resume on Wednesday, in advance of the budget.
"I am disappointed there is any strike. When you are in discussions with people it is far better to conduct the discussions," Cowen said.
"It is better to proceed by agreement than not, but at the same time government has its responsibilities to discharge and will do so."
But unions warned they would hold a second one-day strike on December 3 if renewed talks with the government fail to produce an alternative to plans for pay cuts, compulsory redundancies and changes to pensions for state employees.
Peter McLoone, chairman of the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), said he believed an alternative could be hammered out.
"However, today's national public service strike has demonstrated that our members have the resolve and the strength to resist the government if it pursues an unfair and counter-productive course of further pay cuts," he said.
Employers' body IBEC warned that Tuesday's strike would cause "havoc".
"We hope to see unions engage in constructive talks with the government around their terms and conditions, rather than take to the streets," said IBEC director general Danny McCoy.
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) condemned the action as "nonsensical".
"The reality is, whether union bosses realise it or not, the economy is in crisis and, as a country, we are spending more than we are earning.
"With that stark reality the government has no option but to reduce the cost of running the public sector. The alternative is bankruptcy," said ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.
After a decade of "Celtic Tiger" economic growth and big pay awards to public servants, Ireland was the first eurozone country to plunge into recession as a result of the global financial crisis.
Irish tax revenues have fallen back to 2003 levels and the country is borrowing over 400 million euros a week to bridge a yawning public finances gap.
PTI