Nurses who are members of Siptu have said they "cannot rule out" industrial action over the recruitment ban in the health service.
Siptu's nursing council called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to rescind its ban on recruitment immediately. The HSE placed a ban on recruitment in certain areas some months ago to rein in overspending on some budgets before the end of the financial year.
The ban was discussed at a meeting of the union's national nursing council yesterday.
"At this stage we cannot rule out industrial action as the only response which will be listened to by the HSE," said Siptu national nursing official Louise O'Reilly.
"They seem oblivious to the detrimental effect the ban is having on both staff and patients. The council is very concerned at the pressure which healthcare employees in hospitals and other HSE facilities are working under all over Ireland," said Ms O'Reilly.
"The HSE is laying the groundwork for even bigger problems for healthcare workers and users of the health service if the recruitment ban is not rescinded now. The current working conditions for nurses . . . are verging on intolerable as the ban cuts ever deeper on a daily basis," she added.
Ms O'Reilly said more nurses were needed in the system and that large numbers of student nurses have indicated they will not enter the nursing profession when they finish college.