Irish public sector workers, including teachers, nurses and civil servants, went on strike on Tuesday in protest against government plans to cut pay and prevent the national debt from spiralling out of control.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen, under pressure from Brussels and ratings agencies to reduce the budget deficit, plans to cut spending in the Dec. 9 budget against opposition from trade unions and some members of his unpopular governing coalition.

Union leaders warned a second round of strikes would take place on Dec. 3 if talks, scheduled to recommence on Wednesday, failed to produce an agreed alternative.

"We provide care for people in very difficult situations and we believe we are entitled to be paid premium pay for that," said Colette Mullin, one of 50 nurses picketing outside the National Maternity Hospital, one of Europe's busiest maternity wards, just across a park from Cowen's offices in Dublin.

Cowen says spending cuts are needed to stabilise the deficit at 12 percent of gross domestic product before he can start lowering it towards the European Union's upper limit of 3 percent, which Brussels wants him to reach by 2014.

Unions want a more gradual fiscal reform lasting until 2017, starting by levying higher taxes on top earners, but the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' public service committee chairman said temporary payroll cost measures would have to be made.

"We believe it would be necessary to agree some temporary measures to cut payroll costs in 2010 because reforms are unlikely to deliver the necessary savings before 2011," Peter McLoone told a news conference.

Without cuts, the European Commission projects Ireland's deficit could come close to 15 percent next year, the highest in the 27-member bloc.

Dublin has warned lax policies could eventually land it in the hands of the International Monetary Fund, so few analysts expect it to be deterred by the strikes.

"Looking at the public finances, the figures are truly frightening," Friends First Chief Economist Jim Power said. "It's going to require ... a huge single-minded commitment from the minister for finance."

SHOPPING EXODUS

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan reiterated that cuts in social welfare and public sector pay were necessary.

"One third of day to day voted expenditure is spent on public sector pay, 38 percent is spent on social welfare. Anyone who thinks we can make this level of adjustment without looking at these two areas is frankly deluded," Lenihan told parliament.

Firefighters were the first to go on strike at midnight, and unions said more than 250,000 public sector workers joined the stoppage against plans to slash 1.3 billion euros from their combined pay bill.

The strike is due to last 24 hours, with most public institutions shut and emergency workers taking turns to provide basic cover. Police officers, who are not allowed to strike, are resorting to other means of protest, such as refusing to issue penalty points to motorists.

Many public sector employees appeared to use the strike as an extra day off, with traffic jams reported on roads towards Northern Ireland's cheaper shopping centres. [ID:nGEE5AN2LU]

Unions have called off strikes in some areas to battle floods caused by heavy rain. Newspapers were quick to draw a link between industrial strife and natural disaster.

An Irish Times cartoon showed Cowen on a leaking life raft encircled by flood waters symbolising the national debt, the budget and the unions' day of action.

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