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The leader of the country’s largest public sector union has said that the Government is facing “a potentially explosive situation” following the introduction of pay cuts in the Budget for staff on the State’s payroll.

Speaking today Peter McLoone, the general secretary of Impact and the chairman of the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said that trust had effectively broken down between unions and the Government and that there was no basis that the parties would be able to go back into discussions in the short term.