Psychiatric nurses at St Loman's Hospital in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, are to consider settlement proposals in their dispute tomorrow. The hospital has over 100 residential patients and provides community care services for west Dublin.
The nurses called off a strike after 1 1/2 hours yesterday at the request of the Labour Relations Commission, which invited both sides to talks. After these ended last night, the general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland, Mr Des Kavanagh, said significant progress had been made.
The association is putting the settlement proposals out for ballot without recommending acceptance, and almost 200 nurses will operate a work-to-rule until tomorrow. If the proposals are rejected, strike action will resume on Monday.
The dispute is over staffing, and the Eastern Health Board has now agreed to a recruiting campaign. Staff also have a major grievance over security.
Meanwhile, safety and security issues have led to the PNAI and SIPTU serving strike notice at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, Dublin, for Tuesday.