Despite fears of conflict between workers and employers as people sought time to attend memorial Masses for Pope John Paul II, there were no reports of major difficulties yesterday.
An Ictu spokesman said that while the union had not heard of any serious problems, some people had had to take time off work to look after their children due to school closures.
"People had no choice but to take time off. With the schools off it was unfair that those in the private sector did not get the same treatment," he said.
Ibec had "no significant reports of absenteeism" and the day went "quite smoothly".
Siptu said that for the most part, employers had facilitated workers who wanted to take time off but many people treated it "just like a normal day".
"We have had no complaints from our members or walkouts so either people didn't bother [ to take time off] or they were facilitated by their employers," said a Siptu spokeswoman.
Dell employs around 4,500 people at its Limerick, Bray and Cherrywood plants and continued to operate normally yesterday.
But corporate affairs manager Annette Condon said the firm did everything possible to facilitate staff who wished to mourn.
"As a mark of respect, all our flags were at half mast and a two-minute silence was observed," she said, adding that the funeral was shown on TVs in canteens.
It was a big day for many of the 35,000 or so Polish people living in Ireland."Many Polish people here would have liked to take the day off work but could not get the time off," said Jannina Lyons of the association, adding that there would be a strong Polish presence at yesterday evening's memorial in the Phoenix Park.