A national work-to-rule by the country's nurses and midwives will go ahead tomorrow after talks held in Dublin with the National Implementation Body failed to reach agreement over working conditions at the country's hospitals.
Talks between nursing unions and health service management ended without agreement this evening.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said their 40,000 members will start their action at 8am tomorrow.
INO general secretary Liam Doran blamed employers for the breakdown. He said nurses will go to work tomorrow but will refuse to perform duties such as answering phones, attending meetings and using computers.
The talks broke down over a claim for a 10 per cent pay rise and a 35- hour week.
After today's talks, the Health Services Executive (HSE) called on nursing unions "not to engage in any activity which would cause discomfort or distress to vulnerable patients" ahead of industrial action planned to start tomorrow .
The HSE confirmed yesterday that some non-essential operations have already been postponed by some hospitals and special incident rooms have been set up around the country as a precautionary measure.
In a statement released this evening, the HSE claimed the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) have been "unwilling to reach agreement with the HSE on an appropriate contingency plan"
Siptu Vice President Brendan Hayes said some progress was made "but unfortunately the gap between the parties remains too great to be resolved at this stage."
"We believe it is incumbent on all sides to use the period of the present adjournment to reflect on the outstanding issues and explore all possible avenues for reaching agreement," he said.
Mr Brendan Mulligan, Assistant Chief Executive with the Health Service Executive Employers Agency (HSEEA) said: "At this stage, the HSE would call on the nursing unions not to engage in any activity which will cause discomfort or distress to vulnerable patients and to provide us with the necessary guarantees that patient safety and well-being will be maintained."
"The work-to-rule outlined by the unions puts patient care and safety at risk, services will gradually be terminated and people awaiting health services will not be treated leading to further ill health," he added.
INO general secretary Liam Doran has said that in the event of industrial action going ahead, nurses would provide emergency cover but only if this was paid for by health service management.
The Labour Court last year rejected claims put forward by the two nursing organisations and said that some of these could be addressed through the public service benchmarking process.
However the unions have maintained that the first benchmarking report did not deal with their claims and that they have no confidence in the second process which is due to be completed next year.
In advertisements in today's newspapers, the HSE emphasised that it will endeavour to deliver patient care services as normal and that it will keep the public updated on developments. Information will be updated regularly on the HSE website, www.hse.ie.