The national council of the Irish Nurses Organisation has approved an emergency motion calling on its members to take whatever legal or industrial action is necessary to put a stop to cost-cutting measures.
It leaves the health service facing the threat of mass industrial action by nurses over the recruitment freeze in the public service.
Delegates at the INO's annual conference in Killarney will debate the motion tomorrow morning.
The INO has identified six hospitals which it claims have unsafe staffing levels and are urgently in need of extra resources. They are St John's Hospital in Enniscorthy, St Joseph's in Ennis, St Camillus' in Limerick, St Patrick's in Carrick-on-Shannon, Cregg House in Sligo and Mooreabbey in South Kildare.