Image source, Pacemaker

It's time for us to say goodbye from our live page coverage on a day when thousands of public sector workers have attended rallies across Northern Ireland.

• A total of 16 unions have been taking industrial action
• It has halted bus and train services, while most schools are closed and there is disruption across health services

• More than 100,000 public sector workers have been taking part in the action
• There were rallies in Belfast, Londonderry, Omagh, Magherafelt and Enniskillen

Meanwhile, 800 school workers who are members of the Unite union, including some transport workers, caterers, cleaners and classroom assistants, will remain on strike on Friday.

Several hundred members of the Unite and GMB unions, which operate gritters on Northern Ireland roads, will also be on strike.

You can keep up to date with any further developments on the main BBC News NI website, Evening Extra, The View and BBC Newsline.

The live page was brought to you by Ali Gordon, Amy Stewart, Alan Haslam, Sean-Patrick Mulryan, Ross McKee, Anna Maguire, Amy Murray, Finn Purdy, Adam Mandeville, Peter Coulter, Davy Wilson, Daniel Logan, Peter Hamill and Mike McBride.

Thanks for joining us.

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

As nurses returned from outside the picket lines at 13:00 on Thursday, activity inside hospitals across Northern Ireland noticeably picked up.

Back in emergency departments and wards, the sense of business was tangible.

A regional meeting inside Royal Victoria Hospital's control room clocked how many beds were available across the entire system – too few for the number of patients that required admission.

Hospital chess then got under way.

While one hospital didn't have enough free beds in resus, a different hospital in Belfast could facilitate.

Health and social care services, including for cancer patients, ground to a halt today and this will weigh heavily on staff for some time.

Members acted with one voice and showed solidarity on mass, but they know the impact of their strike action will be felt for months to come.

Brendan Hughes
BBC News NI political reporter

Many Stormont politicians have been out at picket lines and demonstrations today, but the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been difficult to find.

Since 2022, the party has been blocking the restoration of Northern Ireland’s devolved government in protest over post-Brexit trade checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

It believes the arrangements undermine Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market and wants them changed.

Image source, PA Media

But the UK government has said talks with the DUP have “effectively concluded”, and a £3.3bn financial offer for Northern Ireland is contingent on the devolved institutions being restored.

While much of the pressure from the public sector strike action has been on Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, the DUP has also been a focus for some demonstrators in recent days.

“Shame, shame, shame," one protester shouted, when the DUP turned up at Hillsborough Castle on Monday for a meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris.

Cormac Campbell
BBC News NI South-east reporter

The last of the strikers at Craigavon Area Hospital are now tidying up.

Throughout the day, a large number of staff from different unions and disciplines - both medical and non-medical - were on the picket line.

Whether they’ll be on another soon is the great unknown.

Toni Connor
Live page reporter in Coleraine

Chris Heaton-Harris is using the strikes "as a political pawn to try to get the government up and running," claims SIPTU rep Neil, who is on the picket line in Coleraine.

"It's our schools, it's the boys out gritting, it's everyone - we need fair pay," he adds.

Adam Mandeville
Live page reporter in Belfast city centre

Student Mark Mallett has had two lectures cancelled due to the industrial action, but says he is fully supportive of those on the picket lines.

"Obviously it’s disruptive but it’s something that has to happen," Mark says.

"It’ll make an impact in the future, so it’s something that just has to be done."

Anna Diamond's hospital placement has been affected by the strikes, but says she has no complaints.

Anna says she fully supports the strikes, especially the action taken by junior doctors, saying they are "necessary and important".

Adam Mandeville
Live page reporter in Belfast city centre

Due to a lack of public transport, Ben Friel says he had to walk for 55 minutes to get into the office in Belfast today.

He thinks "the strikes are important - people deserve to be paid fairly for what they do."

City centre hospitality worker Christine Mooney says business has been "quieter than usual".

"I think [with] the buses being off we might suffer a lot tonight."

It was a first for South West Acute Hospital dieticians Siobhan Monaghan and Rosemary Read today.

Their union was taking strike action for the first time.

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) says Northern Ireland dietitians and dietetic support workers are "amongst the thousands of public sector workers deserving fairness and dignity in their pay packets".

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath says he has been out on the picket lines in south Down today.

He says the workers he has been speaking to are frustrated with Stormont.

"This message must resonate with those who can make decisions today - that means the secretary of state and the DUP," he adds.

Ita Dungan
BBC News NI

Donna Keatings from west Belfast enjoys a once a week social outing but it has had to be cancelled due no public transport and the lack of gritters out on the roads means her friend is too scared to drive.

Donna is visually impaired and relies on the weekly meet up with her friend to ease her anxiety and "get her out of the house".

She says she understands why people are striking but would have preferred to see a staggered approach.

Daniel Logan
BBC News NI

The manager of a Belfast bakery has sent five staff members home due to poor business today.

Alexandra Sinclair says: "The bus station beside us being closed due to strikes has impacted us massively."

She claims that "about 17,000 people a day walk past our shop - today that number is about 3,000".

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

It’s eerily quiet in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Clearly the public is staying away.

The hospital’s normally busy reception area is virtually empty, as are the corridors.

There are two ambulances in the hospital’s emergency department (ED) bay.

It’s bizarre. Perhaps people are waiting until later on, when they know nurses will be back after ending their strike at 13:00.

There were 76 people waiting to be admitted this morning – most of them there since last night.

They’re seeing a different picture.

Adam Mandeville
Live page reporter in Belfast city centre

Teacher Jenny Steele says she is on strike because teaching is a profession where she has to "educate, therapize, discipline, parent and counsel students" for less money compared to England.

University worker Saj Khan says students that he has spoken to have been "largely supportive of the strikes".

"They realise the necessity of fair pay for their teachers, both for the quality of the teaching they experience in the present and those students who want to take on the essential role of teaching in the future," he tells BBC News NI.

UUP leader Doug Beattie says he has asked Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris to “decouple” the pay resolution from the negotiations of restoring the executive.

He says he has also spoken to DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and worked with the other political parties in relation to restoring Stormont, but to no avail.

Image source, PA Media

“Am I embarrassed? Yes.

"Am I sorry we are not providing for these people? Absolutely.

"I am sorry - it is a failure of politics.

“But I am stuck where I can do no more until somebody has political courage to get Stormont and devolved government back up and running again.”

Brendan Hughes
BBC News NI political reporter

Image source, EPA

Trade unions say the government should release funding to address the public sector pay dispute in the continuing absence of Stormont’s devolved institutions.

It follows the government offering a £3.3bn financial package for Northern Ireland in December - including funds to settle public sector pay claims.

But this offer is contingent on devolution being restored.

Unions say the funds for public sector pay should be released now.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has argued public sector pay is a devolved matter which should be addressed by a revived executive.

The manager of a shop in Belfast's College Street, Kieran Sloan, says that today "has been our quietest day of the week," despite a Thursday normally being their busiest.

"Footfall has decreased significantly," he adds.

Dean McLaughlin
BBC News NI

A Limavady woman says she is "angry and disappointed" that her son's hospital appointment has been cancelled due to the strike action.

Luca, who is 19 months, has been dealing with serious eczema issues for a year.

He was due to have a dermatology appointment at Altnagelvin Hospital, but it has now been postponed.

His mother, Linda Devenney, is "gutted".

"This might seem minor to some people, but he has been having so much trouble and has been scratching until he bleeds in the middle of the night.

"It was an important appointment, because I'm at my wits' end with it all.

"I'm angry and very disappointed.

"Yes it will be rescheduled, but that's not the point."

Mrs Devenney told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today that she supports those who feel the need to strike for fair pay "but causing so much disruption in one day is just not on".

A spokesperson for the Western Trust says it has made direct contact with the patients and services users "who would have expected to receive care services, including hospital appointments, day care and domiciliary care services, and those who will be impacted on this date".

"Our message to patients and service users is that you should assume your appointment is cancelled, unless you are contacted by the trust to advise otherwise."

The Western Trust says it also expects services to be affected going into next week "as the trust makes efforts to return to normal business".

Julian Fowler
BBC News NI

Gabriel Keown, a branch secretary with the University and College Union at South West College in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, says today’s strike is an opportunity for those unions to send “one message to the secretary of state and our politicians”.

“You need to get back to work,” Mr McKeown says.

“In our own case, lecturers in further education, we’ve endured approximately a 30% decline in our pay over the last number of years, so it must stop.

“We appeal to the secretary of state and our local politicians to put an end to it, do the right thing, go back to work,” he adds.

“Or if not, at least we call on the secretary of state to release the funds to allow us to get fair and equitable pay.”

David Wilson
BBC News NI

The rally in Derry has drawn to a close. For the most part it snowed heavily.

The message from the platform was mostly serious - public sector workers have had enough.

One man was tasked with keeping spirits high on a cold wet morning.

Roddy Lynch is a paramedic. He is also a trade union rep.

And he sings.

Unlike the other reps who spoke from the stage, Roddy sang.

His song choices – ‘How Long Has This Been Going On?’, ‘Let It Be’, ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’- were deliberate and made carefully.

No-one takes the option of strike lightly, he says, “it’s the last thing people in his profession want to do”. “But enough is enough”, he adds.

Toni Connor
Live page reporter in Coleraine

Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) member Jonathan, who has worked for the NIAS 15 years, is outside the Causeway hospital in Coleraine.

"We are £1,100 short of the salary that people in England and Wales are getting," he says.