Taoiseach Enda Kenny has again appealed to teachers and gardaí not to go ahead with planned strikes.

He told the Dáil on Tuesday he was concerned about the immediacy of making progress on very sensitive issues with the unions involved - ASTI, GRA and the AGSI.

“I do hope representatives of the three groups involved will sit again with Ministers and their officials and work out, within the constraints of Lansdowne Road, a way forward,’’ he added.

He said everything that could be done to solve the issue would be done.

Mr Kenny said nobody wanted to see strikes happen in these sectors.

In the teachers' case, matters had to be dealt with in an ordered, focused and strategic manner, as was evident from the agreed outcome from the discussions between Minister for Education Richard Bruton and the TUI and INTO.

‘Reflect very carefully’

“Those benefits are there tomorrow for the ASTI and I would say to members to reflect very carefully on what their losses are because of failure to agree and negotiate a settlement which two other very substantial unions have put in place,’’ he added.

Addressing the Garda pay issue, Mr Kenny said nobody wanted to see the withdrawal of 12,500 gardaí, for whatever reason, from streets and villages throughout the country.

He hoped responsibility would be evident in the discussions taking place, he added. The threatened strikes were the subject of “absolute attention’’ from the relevant Ministers.

Mr Kenny was replying to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and Labour leader Brendan Howlin at Opposition Leaders' Questions.