‘No talks if psych nurse is not back at work’

The Psychiatric Nurses Association has said it will not take part in talks designed to defuse a row over the opening of a psychiatric facility unless a nurse put off duty for airing his concerns in the media is allowed return to work.

Union general secretary Des Kavanagh described as “horrendous” the idea of putting a nurse who was a shop steward off duty for speaking out.

“We advised the employer [the HSE] and the Labour Relations Commission that there is no way we could engage in any kind of discussions when a member of our negotiating team has been put off duty,” he said.

Discussions at the commission are due to take place on April 27 and 28.

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Psychiatric nurse Des McSweeney, a shop steward with Siptu, was effectively suspended indefinitely by the HSE after he expressed concerns — in the Irish Examiner and subsequently on radio — in relation to a €15m psychiatric unit on the grounds of Cork University Hospital. His concerns related to proposed staffing levels, layout of the unit, and the shelving of plans for a high-observation unit.

Mr McSweeney received a letter from the HSE on March 31 advising him that he was “off duty with pay” for continuing to talk to the media after being advised that he was in breach of HSE “policies and procedures in relation to communications, particularly with the media”.

Mr Kavanagh last night said the HSE had two-and-a-half weeks “to sort out the mess”. He said while he didn’t necessarily agree with all of Mr McSweeney’s concerns in relation to the 50-bed unit, which should have opened last January, he was “entitled to speak on behalf of his members to the press”.

“The idea of him being censured is ridiculous,” Mr Kavanagh said, adding that union representatives, including voluntary reps, “must be allowed the freedom to talk to the press”.

Meanwhile, Kathleen Lynch, the minister with responsibility for mental health, said she could not comment “on cases relating to individual HSE employees concerning contract of employment issues”.

Ms Lynch said her department had acknowledged a letter from Mr McSweeney outlining his concerns.

Colm Keaveney, Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on mental health, called for an independent investigation into the suspension of Mr McSweeney. He said the move “sends out a very sinister message and stands in direct conflict with the Government’s stated claim to protect whistleblowers”.

He said: “What we have here is a psychiatric nurse and union representative who has raised legitimate concerns about staffing levels and has been penalised by management for flagging the issue.”

The HSE last night denied that any employee of the mental-health services in Cork had been “suspended”. It said that “an employee was temporarily off duty with pay due to an issue that arose between the employee and nurse management and a process is under way to resolve this. The employee has been scheduled to return to work”.

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