Health service dispute - Settlement hopes offer Ahern lifeline

A GLIMMER of light has finally appeared in the deadlocked row between nurses, health service employers and the Government over nursing pay and conditions, effectively raising hopes that a settlement could be in sight just as the dispute was about to escalate.

Politically speaking, if positive results were to emerge from the tentative steps initiated yesterday by the National Implementation Body (NIB) it would be a significant plus for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who is poised to announce the date of the forthcoming General Election.

It may be too early to describe this development as a major breakthrough. But the fact that both sides of the dispute including leaders of the nursing unions and managers of the Health Service Executive (HSE) yesterday held separate talks with the NIB, it will be greeted with a sigh of relief by hospital patients, their worried families and long suffering members of the public who have to endure the glaring deficiencies of a health service in crisis.