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BRIAN COWEN has warned that “extremely flexible” and redeployment arrangements must be put in place in the public sector to avoid compulsory redundancies.

He also stressed that the Government would not be influenced by the threat of a further 24-hour strike by the public service. “I’m not interested in people going on strike. I don’t believe it’s the right approach,” he said. The Government was in discussions and “I can’t make decisions on the basis of another problem arising on December 3rd.”