Paramedics in the health services have called for a deadline to be set on their pay review, which was due to conclude last month.
Representatives of 3,000 health professionals such as physiotherapists, social workers and speech therapists met in Dublin yesterday to discuss action in the event of further delays.
After the meeting, the IMPACT national secretary, Mr Kevin Callinan, said that besides pay the review group had identified major shortcomings in the health services which his members wanted urgently addressed.
He instanced "families at risk unable to get access to social workers, 40 per cent fewer dietitians per head of population than in the UK" and only a third of the recommended international level of speech and language therapists.
He said there were only eight orthoptists in the public health service to deal with eye disorders. Occupational therapy services were also "strained to the limit", with half of new graduates going abroad.
He said his members were demanding urgent clarification on when the expert group report would be completed. The review had been part of the settlement of a 10-day strike in the health services in April 1997, and this represented "unfinished business for these professions on service levels, pay and career structures".
He said IMPACT would be prepared to renew its industrial action to ensure that the Government adhered to its commitments.