Irish public sector workers strike, leading to school closures and canceled medical appointments

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of teachers, doctors and civil servants walked off the job in Ireland on Wednesday, crippling public services across the country as workers demand higher wages to offset the rising cost of living.Most schools, colleges and universities are closed and thousands of medical appointments have been canceled because of the one-day strike, which was called to pressure Prime Minister Micheál Martin to intervene in the talks, which have been stalled since June.Speaking at Mater Hospital in Dublin, the head of the main public employees union, Forsa, blamed the government for failing to address the pay demands of workers.“The government needs to respond to our members today, right across the country,” said Kevin Callinan, Forsa’s general secretary. “The struggles they’re having with the cost of living, the sense of a breach of trust that’s happened with the Department of Public Expenditure. They’re the issues that need to be faced up to by the government now.”C