A NATIONAL strike by the State's 26,000 nurses, bringing chaos to hospitals from July 1st, is almost inevitable.
The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, meets the new executive of the Irish Nurses Organisation later today in a new attempt to avert a national strike.
Delegates to the INO conference in Limerick voted by acclamation yesterday to take industrial action from July 1st, even though the Government has warned that such action would be a breach of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW). Mr Noonan is to address today's conference and meet the union executive later to see if there is a basis for new talks.
The choice of July 1st for industrial action is partly explained by the need to allow for balloting by the INO and other nursing unions, most of which have still to hold conferences to discuss the situation.
Junior hospital doctors also begin their internships at major training hospitals on July 1st. Newly qualified and with little clinical experience, these doctors are heavily dependent on nurses in their first few months.
As Ms Clare Spillane, a staff nurse from Carlow and a member of the INO executive council, put it. "It's about time we, as nurses, caused the maximum chaos in the shortest possible time."
She received a standing ovation when she called for the strike to begin on July 1st. As the applause subsided, the outgoing INO president, Ms Katherine Craughwell, director of nursing at Sligo General Hospital added. "And who says nurses can't plan.
The union executive came in for considerable criticism from the floor for even putting the latest restructuring proposals under the PCW to members. Several branches wanted to put emergency motions of no confidence to the conference but were dissuaded as this would only divide members when unity was essential.
In his response to yesterday's debate on pay, the INO general secretary, Mr P.J. Madden, said the officers and the incoming executive had listened intently to the debate. As long as he held the position of general secretary, he would listen to criticism and take it on board to do his job better.
However, he said the mood of the conference indicated that members accepted "that you realise negotiation is over and you now want to vote with your feet. As delegates of an 18,700 strong organisation, you are telling us that you are now prepared to accept a national strike.
He accepted the response to the proposal to strike from July 1st was your assent by acclamation. There were cries of "Yes" and further applause from the charged meeting.
Referring to a Government warning to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) on Wednesday that industrial action would be in breach of the PCW, Mr Madden said he had briefed the ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, on Tuesday morning about the dispute.
If the Government intention on Wednesday was to summon Mr Cassells for "a tap on the hand in the hope that he would tap you on the hand", then it was in for a surprise. Mr Cassells had sent his best regards to the conference and said congress "will do all in its power to assist you in your case".
While the INO remained open to talks, Mr Madden said it would not defer strike action as it had done previously for talks to take place. It was clear from the mood of the meeting that any attempt to do so would only destroy the credibility of the union leadership.
The INO is by far the largest nursing union and its decision to ballot for a national strike means one is almost inevitable. IMPACT is to discuss the dispute at its conference in Ennis, Co Clare, next week, while SIPTU is holding a special delegate conference for nurses on May 24th.
Psychiatric nurses have already mandated industrial action, at their conference last month.