Schools, courts and hospitals in strike frontline

SCHOOLS, courts and hospitals face crippling mass walkouts as they became the frontline in a rapidly escalating war of attrition between unions and the Government over public sector pay cuts.

More than 300,000 workers were set to take part in coordinated waves of industrial action as the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) warned ministers to restore wage rates or deal with the consequences.

Those consequences would include: