THE Irish Nurses Organisation say the situation at Cavan General Hospital is now at “crisis stage” following an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug and strike action by agency nurses employed at the hospital.

IT’S no secret that when Mary Harney accepted the health portfolio in 2004, other ministries had been discussed.

A RADICAL overhaul of hospital services in Cork and Kerry which will reduce the number of round-the-clock emergency departments (EDs) to one per county is expected to be completed in just over three years.

Public service unions are warning they will escalate their campaign of action "within weeks".

IRELAND’S five largest private hospital chains are set to be targeted by widescale strikes if staff are forced to accept “illegal” pay cuts of between 4%-10%.

NURSES at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital plan a work stoppage at lunchtime this Friday over the manner in which the HSE is dealing with overcrowding at the &emergency department.

THE usual suspects were lined up in recent weeks to condemn public service unions and trot out their public versus private creation in a thinly veiled apologia for those who created our economic mess.

INDUSTRIAL action by nurses is looming at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital over the way the HSE is tackling overcrowding.

Unions lined up tonight to launch vicious attacks on the Government threatening months of angry disputes and strikes over pay cuts.

PATIENT safety is compromised when too many patients are kept on trolleys in emergency departments according to a consultant in emergency medicine at the Midwest Regional Hospital in Limerick.

Environment Minister John Gormley today warned the Taoiseach must take a tougher line in talks with unions as time ticks down to Wednesday’s Budget.

Fianna Fáil backbenchers have today expressed concern about a proposed deal with unions.

CONTINGENCY plans by the Health Service Executive to deal with yesterday’s industrial action by the public sector trade unions worked well, the health authority claimed last night.

Massive disruption is expected today as Ireland’s public services shut down in a national strike over pay cuts.

GARDAÍ are expected not to issue penalty points and fixed charge notices to motorists next Tuesday as part of the public service day of industrial action.

MORE than 65,000 teachers and lecturers will take to the picket line in 10 days’ time, leaving the parents of almost 800,000 school pupils needing to arrange childcare on November 24.

THE Irish Nurses Organisation last night became the latest public service trade union to vote in favour of a 24-hour strike on November 24 in protest at Government plans to cut jobs and pay in the December budget.

Nurses were tonight the latest group of angry public sector workers to vote for industrial action over threatened Government cuts.

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) says industrial action protesting government cutbacks will not interfere with the rollout of the swine flu vaccination programme.

Officials from the 24/7 Frontline Alliance have been meeting this afternoon to review progress in talks with the social partners.

SCHOOLS look set to close and other public services set to be thrown into chaos after all the public service unions agreed to ballot for a day of action on Tuesday, November 24.

A survey of Ireland's main trade unions has reportedly found that their leaders are paid salaries of up to €172,000.

IMPACT trade union has become the first to confirm it wants a 24-hour strike by the country’s 310,000 public servants at the end of November in protest at Government plans to introduce an average of 6.5% pay cuts in the sector in the next budget.

The stand-off between Government and unions over pay cuts worsened today as more than 100,000 frontline public sector workers revealed plans to vote on industrial action.

LEADERS of trade unions representing frontline workers in the public service have warned that industrial action is inevitable if the Government insists on implementing further wage cuts on their members.

THERE was nothing good about the health service in 2007 upon which HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm could justify his claim for a bonus of more than €70,000, Fine Gael’s health spokesman Dr James Reilly has said.

THE Irish Nurses Organisation said the €70,000 bonus awarded to the chief executive of the HSE typifies the “blatant double standards” which are now the norm in society.

Minister for Health Mary Harney today expressed her support for the board of the Health Service Executive after a lucrative €70,000 bonus was approved for HSE chief Professor Brendan Drumm.

More than 300 people were waiting on trolleys in A&E units around the country this morning, according to figures from the Irish Nurses Organisation.

A senior Central Bank executive today weighed into the deepening dispute on public-private pay, claiming the salaries of state employees doubled this decade.

THE number of hospital beds lost due to closures and delayed discharges is the equivalent of three large hospitals, according to figures from the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The Irish Nurses Organisation says the health service has never been less prepared to face the annual upsurge in demand during the winter months.

TRADE unions and associations representing more than 100,000 public servants have reacted angrily to an alleged attempt to gag the military and prevent it from joining with an alliance fighting pay cuts proposed by the McCarthy report.

A group of trade unions joined forces today in a final bid to convince workers the Lisbon Treaty was essential for their rights.

The Irish Nurses Organisation says 241 patients were waiting on trolleys in A&E units across the country this morning.

A NATIONAL protest campaign intent on reversing Government plans to cut child benefit is to be waged in the build up to December’s budget.

TWO hospitals in the north-east of the country are to their lose their 24-hour emergency departments this year.

THE Government has indemnified the manufacturers of the swine flu vaccine from any liability for side effects as it emerged that babies under the age of six months will not be given the jab.

NURSES have been warned they have a professional responsibility to their patients to avail of the swine flu jab as soon as the vaccine becomes available.

There are at least 171 patients sleeping on hospital trolleys in Irish hospitals today, according to the latest count from the Irish Nurses Organisation.

The Irish Nurses Organisation says 249 patients were on trolleys in A&E units across the country this morning.

The Irish Nurses Organisation is warning that government cutbacks could lead to a severe reduction in services at Letterkenny General Hospital in Co Donegal.

HEALTH Service Executive chief Brendan Drumm has admitted hospitals are likely to lose €23 million because of a loophole in the new hospital consultants’ contract.

UP to 1,000 new permanent jobs will be created this year in the latest reconfiguration of services by the Health Service Executive.