The Irish Nurses Organisation has mounted a picket at a care centre for people with intellectual disabilities in Co Kildare in protest at low staffing levels.
The organisation said staff levels at the Moore Abbey centre in Monasterevin were totally insufficient to provide quality care.
It also accused management of not doing enough to address the matter.
The INO said 21 nurses graduated from a training course in the centre last year, but just five were given jobs in the centre and even they were only offered temporary contracts.