There was a mixed reaction to the nurses' pay deal in hospitals throughout the State. Many nurses asked for their view on the deal were dismissive. Others said they were awaiting meetings with union officials when more detail would become available.
The report below is a sampling of their views.
Midlands: Nurses in Tullamore were uncertain yesterday whether they would accept the Government's offer.
Of five rank-and-file nurses contacted by The Irish Times, three were in favour of the deal and two were against it. All five refused to go on record, pointing out that they can be transferred at any time, without an explanation, anywhere in the health board region.
They complained about the lack of detail they had received on the offer and said they had to rely on the newspapers and on colleagues for information.
One said she would accept the deal because it seemed that the more senior members of staff who had waited so long for "fair play" were now getting it.
A younger colleague said the new deal was being put in place to "divide and conquer" the profession.
In Mullingar, the situation was the reverse with three nurses who were contacted rejecting the offer out of hand and a fourth, a nurse close to retirement, in favour of the deal. She said that it was about time ward sisters were compensated for the work they had been doing and while £27,522 was not a great deal of money, it was better than the current rates of pay.
The others, all staff nurses at the hospital, said they were bitterly disappointed that their increase was not in line with more senior staff.
In Portlaoise, one young nurse said she would accept the deal because she was saving to buy a house and found the lump sum payment of £1,250 attractive.
"A lot of the younger nurses here have doubts about the award but it would take most of us months to save that kind of money and it should make the difference," she said.
North-west: Nurses were generally not commenting yesterday on the award, saying they wanted to wait until after the regional meetings with union representatives which are due to take place next week. They said they were not clear on all the details of the package and had not made any firm decision.
Representatives of the Irish Nurses' Organisation also said they did not want to make any comment at this stage.
West: The nursing representatives are also reserving their comments until after the alliance and respective executives have made their views public. Ms Claire Treacy, an INO representative, said that no comment could be made until then. A series of regional meetings is scheduled for Monday.
Cork: Nurses were reluctant to speak about the proposed deal and would not confirm whether they had been instructed by management or unions to remain silent.
At Bantry General Hospital, the assistant matron, Ms Mary Holland, said she had not received all the information concerning the proposed deal and was waiting on the fine print to come through from her union, the INO.
While at Mallow General Hospital, Sister Joan, the assistant matron, said she was also waiting for clarification and didn't really have enough details to make an informed comment.
Ms Noelle O'Higgins, a staff nurse at Cork's University Hospital, said she felt from talking to other nurses that the feeling was a militant one. The ward sisters would do better from the proposed deal than other nurses.