Unions representing nearly 1,800 staff at Tallaght Hospital are expected to meet on Monday to discuss plans for industrial action to prevent compulsory redundancies.
The hospital board has so far refused to disclose how many job cuts it plans in order to keep within budget, but it is expected to seek more than 100.
Most unions issued strike notice yesterday after concluding ballots. The only significant group still balloting are the 101 non-consultant hospital doctors, members of the Irish Medical Organisation. Their result is due on Wednesday.
But last night, the IMO's industrial relations officer, Mr Conal Devine, said his members would be happy to support their colleagues, while ensuring that emergency cover remained in place, if a dispute took place. More than 25 IMO members are expected to be laid off.
The latest group to conclude balloting are 400 administrative staff and health professionals in IMPACT. Its national secretary for the health services, Mr Kevin Callinan, said last night that staffing levels were already poor and extra people were needed in areas such as social work, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
"Our members are extremely angry," Mr Callinan said. "Morale could not be lower and people will vote with their feet if the board refuses to address the problem."
SIPTU's national industrial officer, Mr Matt Merrigan, said management had ignored all requests for meetings. It appeared to be preparing to issue its own proposals on Tuesday without consulting the unions. "If they do, they will have to take the consequences," he warned.
Among those who had received notice were not just short-term contract workers but staff protected by the Unfair Dismissals Act, Mr Merrigan said.
The SIPTU branch secretary for non-nursing grades at Tallaght, Mr Paul Bell, said management's failure to deal with growing uncertainty was making a resolution more difficult.
By far the largest union at Tallaght is the Irish Nurses Organisation. Its members voted 96 per cent to 4 per cent for strike action. This was the biggest majority for industrial action of any union. Its press officer, Ms Gina Moloney, said members were concerned because staffing levels in many wards and units were already below those provided for in existing agreements.
Far from terminating contracts for temporary staff, she said the hospital needed to increase existing staff levels and honour commitments made last June. All the problems stemmed from the continuing shortfall in the hospital's budget allocation.
It was this aspect of the problem that Labour's spokeswoman on health, Ms Liz McManus, focused on. "The most modern, state-of-the-art hospital in the State is heading into chaos because of the failure of the Department of Health to get its sums right," she said. She called on the Minister, Mr Cowen, "to resolve the dispute immediately. He must provide the necessary finance to maintain jobs and services at Tallaght".
She said his handling of the crisis placed a large question mark over his ability to manage.
Neither the Minister, nor the board of Tallaght, would comment last night. A hospital spokeswoman said that if there was a dispute emergency services would be maintained.