The Minister for Health, Mary Harney, is to address the annual conference of the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) today.
Delegates at the conference have voted overwhelmingly to take whatever action was required to protect members’ rights and patient services, including, if necessary, all-out industrial action.
Attendees had considered health service cuts, the threat not to renew the contracts of any temporary nurses on foot of the Government’s recruitment embargo, and the threat to further cut nurses’ pay,
Speaking at the conference in in Killarney, Co Kerry, Dave Hughes, deputy general secretary of the INO, said if the Government could bail out the banks it could provide funds to allow nurses provide safe patient care.
Elsewhere, nurses at Sligo General Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over bed closures and non-renewal of contracts.
More than 96 per cent of the INO’s 550-strong membership at the hospital voted in favour of the action. An initial one-day stoppage is due to take place after strike notice expires on May 19th.