Forget Girl Power - a serious outbreak of Nurse Power stopped traffic on O`Connell Street yesterday afternoon, and there seems to be no sign of a cure.
What the nurses really, really wanted was spelt out in the placards - ranging from the crude to the creative - held aloft by those who gathered for one of the biggest strikers' marches held in the city. Most played on the now well-worn theme of a health minister whom they say suffers from "Mad Cowen Disease".
Others tried poetry; When Brian and Bertie Get Shirty, We'll Play Dirty, one read. Another confirmed what the spectacle of between 8,000 and 10,000 nurses, at one stage taking up the entire length of O'Connell Street, made clear - Florence Nightingale's Light Has Gone Out.
Although the skies were grey, the newly erected Christmas lights on the branches of the trees added a glow to the protesters, whose mood was upbeat, but determined. Afternoon shoppers lined the streets, workers waved from building sites and motorists beeped horns in support.
Scheduled for noon, the march set off from Parnell Square 15 minutes late and the mass of slogan-chanting nurses at one point stretched around the square to the entrance of the Rotunda Hospital.
"We're Not Bowin' to Mr Cowen," roared those who weren't blowing whistles or singing When The Saints Go Marching In.
Contrasting sharply with the thousands of protesting female nurses was the sight of five male union officials leading the march. Later, one of them spoke from the podium outside the GPO about "macho male ministers" talking down to this predominantly female profession.
The march had been diverted to the GPO from the original destination of the Dail as a mark of respect for the late Jack Lynch. In the shadow of the statue of Jim Larkin, one official likened the atmosphere to that of a U2 concert. "And we still haven't found what we're looking for," quipped INO official Mr Liam Doran. Coachloads of nurses had travelled from all over the State to attend the march. Ms Liz McManus, Labour spokeswoman on health, joined them, handing out leaflets about the Labour Party motion in the Dail in support of the nurses. She bumped into a group of from Donegal who had been on the road since 6 a.m.
"The independents could have swung it for us," one of them told her. "Harry Blaney and Tom Gil dea won't get our votes next time." Then a warning for the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation - "McDaid needn't come back to the hospital in Letterkenny looking for our votes."
Those still not sure why the nurses deserved more pay and better conditions were left in no doubt after the march - because "we're worth it", the placards said.