More than 300,000 public sector workers in Ireland, including nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants, staged a 24-hour strike on Wednesday over delays in agreeing a new public sector pay deal, RTÉ reported. It was the largest strike in Ireland in almost 20 years, and a further strike is planned for Oct. 21, RTÉ said.

The walkout closed most schools, colleges and universities, and thousands of hospital appointments were canceled, RTÉ reported. Emergency departments and urgent services such as cancer treatment and dialysis kept running, the HSE said, according to RTÉ. Almost all court sittings were canceled, and Leinster House, the seat of Ireland's parliament, was closed. Police and the Defence Forces did not strike because the law bars them from doing so, RTÉ said.

Unions say the government failed to make meaningful commitments on pay after the last public service agreement expired at the end of June, and they want pay discussed at the start of any talks, RTÉ reported. The government has set aside €1.2 billion in Budget 2027 for a pay deal. Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Fórsa, Ireland's largest public sector union, said Thursday that this would "at best" provide a 2.5% raise, the Irish Examiner reported. He said there has been a gap over the previous five years "of at least 5% between wages and prices in the public service."

Callinan told Newstalk that unions would wait to see "whether or not there's something credible developed," the Irish Examiner reported. The paper said Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said Wednesday night there was a "pathway" forward and that he was happy for pay to be dealt with first. Callinan warned that without a breakthrough, "this is going to become a long and difficult dispute," the paper reported.

Speaking at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Ireland's prime minister, said there has been "intensive engagement" between the government and unions behind the scenes, RTÉ reported. "I would be hopeful that we can bring that to a conclusion relatively quickly," he said.

What we know: More than 300,000 public workers struck Wednesday, and a second strike is set for Oct. 21.
What we don't: Whether talks will start, or a deal will be reached, before the next strike.