ICT workers in Ireland’s local authorities began work-to-rule industrial action this week, on Wednesday 28th January, in a dispute over management’s failure to address longstanding concerns about workload, staffing levels and the lack of recognition for the specialist nature of their work. 

There are around 500 Fórsa members involved who maintain and support the computer systems and digital services used by councils to deliver essential public services. These include housing, planning, finance and customer-facing online services. 

From 7am on Wednesday, local authority ICT members ceased out-of-hours work and are refusing engagement with third parties, including contractors and external service providers. 

The action follows a ballot held in December, which showed overwhelming support for industrial action. 

While the precise impact will vary between councils, the withdrawal of out-of-hours support is expected to cause disruption if the dispute continues, particularly where ICT staff are required to respond to urgent system failures outside normal working hours. 

The union believes the issues can be resolved quickly, but only through genuine engagement, and a commitment from local authority management to address the problems affecting ICT staff. 

Fórsa is seeking a sector-wide review of ICT grading and pay, benchmarking ICT roles against other professional groups and public sector bodies where equivalent roles are graded higher. The union is also seeking the establishment of a National ICT Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee to oversee career paths, training and skills development, as well as a nationally agreed framework for out-of-hours work. 

Fórsa national secretary Richy Carrothers said ICT staff play a critical role in keeping essential public services running: “Despite this, their work has been consistently undervalued and under-resourced,” adding that morale is low and Government digitalisation goals are at risk.  

Richy has also said the LGMA (Local Government Management Agency) has failed to respond to the union’s evidence-based position that there is an acute recruitment and retention crisis of ICT staff.

Paul Barker, chair of Fórsa’s ICT Committee in local authorities, said members are under increasing pressure as councils become more dependent on complex digital systems and are being expected to provide round-the-clock cover without proper staffing or recognition: “This dispute is not about withdrawing services, but about forcing long-overdue engagement on how these services are properly supported,” he said. 

Derogations have been granted covering four areas: cyber security, payroll, fire and emergency services and emergency homeless services. Further details on these derogations are in the FAQ. 

The union has advised the LGMA that it remains available for meaningful discussions. 

Members can download the dispute FAQ here and a dispute poster here to distribute and display in your workplace. 

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