WARD managers appointing staff to act in their absence are passing over non-nationals in favour of more junior Irish staff, overseas nurses’ representatives have claimed.

AS thousands of nurses prepare for industrial action, health service employers have accused militant nursing unions of placing an unbearable strain on the health service.

EDWARD MATHEWS does an invaluable job, but he feels distinctly unappreciated. He is one of 1,600 Registered Mental Handicap Nurses (RMHN) angered by a wage agreement that will see non-nursing care staff earn 2,000 more than him.

MENTAL handicap services at 50 residential care centres could be hit after a nurse’s ballot in favour of industrial action in a dispute over pay.