No end in sight as nurses prepare for stoppages

Planned work stoppages at hospitals in Dublin and Tipperary look set to go ahead tomorrow, with no resolution in sight to the long-running dispute over nurses' pay and conditions.

Members of the Irish Nurses Organisation and Psychiatric Nurses Association are due to stage one-hour stoppages at St Vincent's in Dublin and two hospitals in Clonmel - St Joseph's and St Luke's -as part of their campaign for a 10% pay rise and a shorter working week.

Further stoppages are also planned in other hospitals around the country during the coming weeks.

The Health Service Executive has indicated that it willing to sit down and discuss the possibility of a reduced working week.

However, it is still refusing to discuss the central issue of pay, saying it must be dealt with through the benchmarking and social partnership processes.