Late on 20 October the Irish Congress of Trade Unions confirmed that its planned national strike for 21 October is “suspended, not withdrawn” after progress in pay talks with the Government. The decision spares essential services—including Dublin Airport security, passport offices and the Burgh Quay immigration registration centre—from a second day of shutdown in as many weeks. Fórsa and SIPTU had signalled that airport security staff and immigration clerks would join picket lines if the strike proceeded. daa had already activated an emergency roster that would have reduced security-lane capacity by 30 percent. Passport Service management warned of a two-day backlog on urgent travel documents. While services will run normally today, unions say they will reinstate the strike for 4 November if a draft pay deal is not ratified by members. Public bodies have been instructed to continue contingency planning. Business-travel managers welcomed the pause but urged travellers to avoid same-day passport collections and to monitor airline notifications, as rostering adjustments had already been uploaded to crew-scheduling systems and could result in minor time changes. Global-mobility teams should also note that the immigration registration office remains overbooked; any mass strike later in the year could push first-time registration appointments into January.
