Over 8,000 SIPTU activists are being asked today to join a campaign to highlight what the union describes as the "crisis" in the health service.
Posters, postcards and action packs, designed to keep the issue of Ireland’s health service at the top of the political agenda coming up to the general election, are to be distributed for display in workplaces throughout the country.
The union campaign is expected to target public representatives for intensive lobbying over the next three months.
According to SIPTU vice-president Mr Jack O’Connor, the health issue was a major feature of SIPTU's National Delegate Conference last October and was the subject of a special consultative conference in November 2001.
This campaign, he said, would try to address not only the symptoms of the health crisis but also its causes and potential solutions.
"Our aim is to maximise pressure to secure the deployment of resources for the provision of health services on a par with those in other modern European states so as to ensure a fair, accessible and high quality treatment for all our citizens," said Mr O'Connor.