Reaction: interest groups: Employers and unions have clashed over whether Friday should be declared a national day of mourning for Pope John Paul II.
Business groups said Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was correct to stop short of calling an official day of mourning, and said employees who wished to attend religious services would be facilitated. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), however, said it was clear that a national day of mourning was the option favoured by most Irish people.
Both sides in the debate said the decision to allow schools to close would place huge pressure on working parents. The Small Firms Association said closing schools would place "enormous pressure" on parents but praised the Taoiseach's decision not to ask businesses to close.
Its director, Pat Delaney, said an official day of mourning would have cost small businesses up to €600 million. Now that they had room to manoeuvre, employers would ensure that workers wishing to attend services would be facilitated.
"Business will do the right thing here. But this way it will be done in a far more harmonious way . . . There is a requirement nationally to mourn the death of the Pope, but that does not require a day's closure of business," he said.
The decision to have a national day of mourning in response to the September 11th atrocity in New York had been an "over-reaction", he said, and had been received "very angrily" by businesses.
Employees who wished to take a full day off could seek to take a day's holiday, Mr Delaney said. This arrangement already applied to Good Friday, which was not a public holiday but an important religious occasion for many.
However, the Irish Congress of Trade Union criticised the Taoiseach's decision, saying a national day of mourning would have been the "sensitive and appropriate" response. "Economic considerations should not influence this decision," it said.
It said the closure of schools would cause real difficulties for parents who were required to work as normal.
The chief executive of the National Parents Council (primary), Fionnuala Kilfeather, also expressed concern about the effect closing schools would have on parents. Primary schools could have encouraged students to study the Pope's life and good works on that day instead, she said.
"Within the curriculum there are great ways of encouraging all students to celebrate his life . . . I think that schools should think long and hard before doing it . . . Closing schools is by no means the only way."
Organisations representing both large and small retailers confirmed that shops will be open for business as usual. The retail grocers' body, RGDATA, said it was up to individual members to decide how to act, but there was no reason for shops to close.
Its director general, Tara Buckley, said the organisation would not have favoured a formal day of mourning, given the costs it would have imposed.
Employers' body Ibec said individual companies should decide what measures to put in place to facilitate staff requests to attend religious services.
"As religious ceremonies can be attended before or after work, there should be no disruption to business," said director general Turlough O'Sullivan.
The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland also said it supported the decision not to have a full day of mourning. It was confident employees who wished to "pay their respects" would be facilitated.
George O'Callaghan of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents the majority of second-level school managers, said it would be advising its 380 Catholic school members to close on the day. The JMB also represents more than 20 non-Catholic schools, he said. It would be left up to such schools to decide if they wanted to avail of the Minister's decision to allow them to remain closed on the day but many of these schools have a significant proportion of Catholic pupils, he said.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) expects most if not all primary schools to close for the whole day. John Carr, general secretary of the INTO, said it welcomed the clarity which the Minister for Education's statement had provided on the matter.
Paul Rowe, chief executive of Educate Together, which oversees 35 multi-denominational national schools here, said Educate Together schools would facilitate any employee or family wishing to observe the occasion.
He advised parents to contact their school principal or board of management, as it was up to individual schools to decide whether to open. He expected them to do so "in the next day or two".
Meanwhile, the forthcoming annual general meeting of the Catholic Primary School Managers' Association (CPSMA), which was scheduled to commence this Friday, has been cancelled.