Talks ongoing to avert nurses’ strike at emergency departments
Representatives of the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) were in meetings late last night at the Workplace Relations Commission in an effort to find a resolution.
Even with a resolution, some elective surgery — cancelled in anticipation of a two-hour work stoppage at the affected EDs — will not go ahead. Hospitals where industrial action is scheduled include Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, the Mercy University Hospital in Cork (8am-10am), Tallaght and Cavan General Hospital (10am-12pm), University Hospital Waterford and Tullamore (12pm-2pm), and University Hospital, Galway (2pm-4pm).
Asked if he thought the strike could be averted, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said only the nurses’ union “can call it off”.
He said contingency plans were being put in place to assure patient safety.
Criticised by nurses for saying the dispute was over pay, Mr Varadkar said: “Some of it is around staffing, some of it is around health and safety, some of it is around escalation protocols, and I do think there is a deal to be done on all of those issues but, when it does come to pay increases of any sort, no matter how they are represented, we do already have a pay deal in place and that’s the Lansdowne Road Agreement.”
Asked about criticism of the HSE by director general Tony O’Brien, as reported in a Sunday newspaper, he said: “If you read past the headline to the analysis piece and the article, Tony made some very interesting points. A lot of the ones he would have made are ones that I would agree with, ones I made myself in the past.
“He is of course right to say the HSE is on death row. It was established by the last government, by Fianna Fáil. They want to retain it — we don’t. If this Government is re-elected, we will continue with our programme of dismantling the HSE, which is now well underway.”
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