The executive council of the Irish Nurses' Organisation is to recommend to the union's 40,000 members that they accept the proposed new national pay agreement.
The council said it had arrived at the decision today following "detailed consideration" of the agreement, the current status of national issues specific to nurses and midwives, and feedback from a series of regional meetings held earlier this week.
INO members will begin voting on the proposed agreement next week and the result will be known on Friday November 14th.
In a statement, the INO said it had decided to meet on November 4th to assess the implications for the public health service of the proposed health allocation for 2009, as contained in the Government's recent Budget statement.
"The meeting re-affirmed the commitment of the organisation to a quality assured public health service and the INO will actively participate in the required campaign to protect patients and staff in the public health service, against unnecessary and harmful cutbacks," the statement added.
The State's largest trade union, Siptu, has also recommended to its members that they accept the proposed deal and they began balloting yesterday.
Siptu president Jack O'Connor said the union's national executive council had decided unanimously on Wednesday to urge members that they should not forgo the possibility of enhancing employment rights and improving pay generally just because of unacceptable aspects of the Budget.
The union representing lower-paid civil servants, the CPSU, and the State's second largest union, Unite, have recommended to members that they reject the deal on the table.
The Government and social partners reached an outline agreement on the pay deal last month, proposing a 6 per cent pay rise over 21 months with a final 1/2 per cent rise for lower paid workers at the end of that period.