OFFICIALS of Government and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions are to hold urgent talks to find a resolution to industrial unrest among nurses, teachers and CPSU members.

Meanwhile, the IFA president, Mr John Donnelly told the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, at a meeting in the Department of Agriculture that the cattle industry was "grinding to a halt" as a result of CPSU industrial action.

Unless there was an immediate cessation of the "industrial anarchy of the CPSU", the Government would have to use emergency powers to prevent a total collapse of the livestock industry, he said.

Calling on Congress, as a signatory of the PCW agreement, to take immediate control of its members "and halt the wildcat action", Mr Donnelly said the Government could not ignore the widespread hardship and chaos in the cattle trade being caused in the present situation.

"Farmers already suffering huge losses over the BSE crisis are being held hostage by the CPSU in its dispute with the Government," he added.

Following an hour long meeting between the Government and the ICTU yesterday, a joint statement said they had agreed to work in partnership to achieve the restructuring required in the public service. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, said later that there was an extremely strong commitment on both sides of the table to the idea of social partnership.

The general secretary of ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, predicted that current difficulties could be sorted out "in a spirit of partnership".