Up to 50 hospitals and mental health facilities will be hit by work stoppages over two days next week under a plan devised last night by members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association (PNA) to escalate their campaign of industrial action.
The Irish Timesunderstands that the stoppages will affect most of the acute hospitals across the State which have not already experienced work stoppages by the nurses.
The stoppages will still be for one hour.
The hospitals to be affected will include large hospitals in Dublin, such as the Mater and Tallaght hospitals; Letterkenny General Hospital; Galway's University College Hospital; Mayo General Hospital; Limerick Regional Hospital; Cork University Hospital; Waterford Regional Hospital; Wexford General Hospital; Tullamore General Hospital; St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda; and Cavan General Hospital. Others will also be hit.
It is expected that the work stoppages will take place on Wednesday and Friday.
Full details of the escalation plan are to be announced tomorrow at the PNA's annual conference in Ballybofey, Co Donegal. That conference, which opens today, is due to be addressed by Minister for Health Mary Harney in the afternoon, and she is likely to receive a cool reception from delegates.
Meanwhile, there is still no sign of any talks to try to resolve the dispute. A work-to-rule by about 40,000 nurses continues at all hospitals.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is understood to have discussed the impasse during a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday. But it was decided that no initiative should be taken to bring all sides back to negotiations at this stage.
Members of the INO and the PNA are due to stage a protest at the Fianna Fáil constituency office in Portlaoise during a visit there by Mr Ahern this morning.
The nurses are seeking a 10.6 per cent pay rise and a 35-hour working week.
Hundreds of nurses picketed outside three acute hospitals again yesterday during one-hour work stoppages. These took place at St James's Hospital in Dublin, Ennis General Hospital and Portlaoise General Hospital. Nurses also stopped work for an hour at St Patrick's psychiatric hospital, Dublin, and at the Laois/Offaly mental health services and the Clare mental health services.
Liam Doran, general secretary of the INO, said that the resolve of members to continue with their campaign of industrial action was firm.
"The resolve of our members is solid, but obviously it would be a preference for everyone to start talking. But, in the absence of talking, the campaign will continue. And we would still argue that the talking should start now rather than later," he said.
Mr Doran insisted that the two demands of the nurses in terms of pay and working hours would still have to be discussed during any talks which took place.
However, he said that if the nurses were given a date for the introduction of a 35-hour week they would be prepared to negotiate on how the pay issue could be "addressed in an interim measure going into benchmarking".
Furthermore, he said, claims that he had told a meeting with HSE and Department of Health officials earlier in the year that he would face down the public in any dispute were simply not true.