Nurses to be balloted for industrial action

Hospitals may be brought to a standstill within weeks due to growing public service pay and staff level tensions after a leading nurses’ group became the latest union to threaten strike action.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (IMNO) revealed the plan last night as the group’s general secretary Liam Doran warned the Lansdowne Road deal is no longer “tenable”.

Under the plans, nurses will be balloted on November 24 on whether to agree to industrial action including work-to-rule measures and the option of one-day stoppages, with the results to be made known on December 15 and strike measures beginning three weeks later on January 5.