Efforts to avoid nurses' strike end without resolution
Efforts to avert a strike by the country’s nurses have ended without a resolution.
Talks took place earlier between The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the Psychiatric Nurses Association and the HSE, to try and reach agreement on issues surrounding pay and conditions.
The unions say they weren’t presented with concrete proposals and the strike action goes ahead.
Another meeting between the sides is planned for next Monday.
The INMO will hold the first of six nationwide 24-hour strikes on January 30, while the PNA is planning a three-day stoppage from February 12.
Peter Hughes, general secretary of the PNA, said he is very disappointed.
"It's another six days before we're meeting so the timeline is getting shorter and certainly we were disappointed at this meeting...
"We'll go to our executive on Friday and I don't think our membership will be very happy today at what's been put forward."
Speaking on her way out of today’s talks, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, general secretary of the INMO, says, as it stands, the strike will go ahead.
"We will continue to make every effort to avert a dispute but for the moment nothing we've heard here today brings us to that space so preparations for strike continue."
Bid to prevent nurses' strike underway as sides meet for talks
The two sides in the nursing dispute meet this morning in Dublin.
The talks between the INMO, the Psychiatric Nurses Association and HSE officials are aimed at averting a series of strikes scheduled to start at the end of the month.
Emergency cover to be provided in the event of the strikes going ahead will also be discussed
The INMO has scheduled the first of six nationwide strike days for January 30 while the PNA is planning a three-day stoppage from February 12.
Health Minister Simon Harris says nurses have responsibilities after signing up to the public sector pay agreement.
He said: "I think it's really important that everyone puts their shoulder to the wheel and tries to find a solution.
"Let's remember that in the case of the INMO they have signed up to a public sector pay agreement - they are a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Union and with public sector pay agreements comes benefits to your members, but also comes responsibilities of not causing industrial unrest."
