Five cars in five minutes honked as they drove by St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, supporting the picketing nurses' claim that public support was as strong as ever on the first weekend of the strike.
The nurses said they were thrilled by a weekend MRBI poll that showed 70 per cent of the public blamed the Government for the strike. "It is very gratifying," one said.
The mild weather and food and drink on offer brought a "better psychological feeling to the grim business," the nurse said.
"People have been extremely good to us. All sorts of people have brought us nourishment," a picketer commented.
"We haven't heard so much as one negative comment," according to another, who also told of a young girl in a wheelchair who had her mother bring her down the long hospital driveway to the picket line to show her support.
"Other patients have spent time with us down here, too, both young ones and old ones have walked with us as long as they were able."
The accident and emergency department - the main one for the south city - was empty on Sunday afternoon, although 16 people had been admitted between Saturday and Sunday mornings, according to a spokesman for the management.