Nurses unions have not ruled out the possibility of industrial action after recommending its members reject the Government’s pay proposals.

The prospect of widespread industrial unrest in the health service is looming as both nurses and hospital consultants vent their frustration at Government failure to tackle concerns over pay and emergency department (ED) overcrowding.

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have voted, by a margin of 82%, to accept proposals to begin addressing the staffing/recruitment/ retention crisis in nursing and midwifery.

Nurses require financial incentives to avert strike action in a dispute over staffing, recruitment, and retention, their trade union has said.

Nurses working in emergency departments (EDs) have had to ration their care of patients “to a dangerous degree” and often face moral distress and even burnout, according to a new study.

Thousands of nurses who graduated between 2011 and 2015 are to get a pay increase of up to €1,500 in January.

As members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation geared up for emergency department strike action, nurse Mark O’Neill talked to Irish Examiner reporter Catherine Shanahan about the travails of a job he loves

Nurses have blamed management’s “total failure” to address a staffing crisis for two-hour rolling stoppages that will be held in seven hospitals next Tuesday.

Claims by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation that conditions at University Maternity Hospital Limerick make it unsafe for mothers and babies have been rejected by management.

A dispute over staffing levels at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar has been resolved, with 90 nurses and midwives to be hired.

Management at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has agreed to increase the number of nurses and make more beds available, to alleviate overcrowding in the Emergency Department.

Nurses at Beaumont Hospital where A&E overcrowding is particularly acute will hold a lunchtime protest today to highlight what they say is an intolerable working environment.

New nurses are seeking an urgent meeting with Health Minister James Reilly over claims that salary cuts are forcing graduates to emigrate or take up jobs in pubs instead of in the under-staffed health service.

A meeting between Garda management and the AGSI members who staged walkouts during their annual conference has ended tonight.

AGSI general secretary Pat Flynn said today that he believed providing information about paedophiles to the public would force sex offenders underground and make it more difficult for the gardaí to supervise them.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said today that he would listen to debate on calls for information on convicted paedophiles to be made available to the public.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors is due to debate a controversial motion at its annual conference this week calling for information on convicted paedophiles to be made available to the public.