Nurses at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital have shown a resigned acceptance that the Labour Court's offer is the best they are likely to get, according to the chairwoman of their strike committee.
Ms Mary Tynan said that if there had been a ballot yesterday, it would have been passed, but not by a large majority.
"This still isn't settled. We still haven't found what we're looking for. But there's realism out there that this is as good as we are going to get in the current climate," she said.
Union representatives including Mr Liam Doran of the Irish Nurses' Organisation held information meetings with nurses in Dublin hospitals yesterday.
Ms Tynan said the 350 nurses at the Beaumont meeting expressed anger and frustration at the deferment of the strike pending a ballot.
Ms Tynan said she felt aggrieved that nurses had not been given the chance to vote on the proposals while remaining on the picket lines.
Staff nurse Caroline Huban said people were disappointed because the package "did not seem a lot to be out in the cold for nine days for".
Ms Huban said she stood to get a £1,250 lump sum and a 2 per cent wage increase. She said she had not decided how she was going to vote as she needed to examine the proposals in more detail.
Staff nurse Caroline Farrell said she initially thought the package was very poor. After yesterday's union meeting she believed there was "a little bit more on the table, mainly for senior grades".
She said the mood in the hospital had gone from being "upbeat and militant to quiet and sombre and thoughtful. Everyone is thinking about their own situation and will vote accordingly."
A staff nurse at the Mater Hospital said nurses were not happy with the Labour Court's package and were angry that they had been brought in from the picket lines.
"We've been sold out, and people will just go and find other jobs," she said.