The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has sent a circular to senior health managers expressing concern that increases in nurses' pay and allowances have not yet been paid. The increases have been due since the end of the nurses' strike last October.
The Minister's strongly worded circular, which has been seen by The Irish Times, was sent on March 31st, yet leaders of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) complained at yesterday's annual conference that 20 per cent of the arrears was outstanding.
The general secretary of the INO, Mr Liam Doran, estimated that failure to introduce a new one-and-one-sixth overtime rate was the equivalent of a 2 per cent loss of income for many nurses. He also said that some nurses were still waiting for between £1,000 and £2,000 each in arrears for qualifications allowances dating back to August 1998.
In a circular to chief executives of health boards and hospitals in March, a senior official in Mr Martin's nursing policy division, Mr Bernard Carey, wrote that he had been directed by the Minister to refer them to a circular issued in November, sanctioning "payment of the increases in nurses' pay and allowances provided for in the relevant Labour Court recommendations".
"The Minister is concerned to learn from nursing union representatives that certain of the increases in pay and allowances, and arrears of same, due to nurses under the terms of the settlement, have not yet been paid.
"He has accordingly instructed me to write to you requesting that you take such steps as are necessary to ensure that all outstanding monies due to nurses in your board's employment are paid without further delay," the circular continued. At the INO annual conference yesterday, renewed industrial action was threatened from the end of this month because of the arrears problem. While Mr Martin made no reference to the circular, he did appeal to delegates to keep their faith in the partnership approach. "We should, together, make every effort to create a new era in industrial relations," he said.
In a major concession, Mr Martin also announced that £15 million was to be made available to pay fees for nurses studying for primary degrees in nursing, midwifery and health service management. The INO has been campaigning for fees to be paid on behalf of 3,500 student nurses, who are the only full-time third-level students that currently have to pay fees.
However, the Minister has gone significantly further by offering free access to primary degree courses to all health service nurses, including job-sharers and part-time employees.
Despite the threats of industrial action, Mr Martin's stock is extremely high among nurses. He received a standing ovation from delegates yesterday, in contrast to the heckling that met his predecessor, Mr Brian Cowen, at the INO conference in Letterkenny last year. Mr Martin was described by one enthusiastic delegate as "the Daniel O'Donnell" of the Cabinet.
After speaking at the conference, Mr Martin said he was hopeful that next Wednesday's strike by non-consultant hospital doctors could be averted.
The chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, Mr Kieran Mulvey, said later he was in contact with both sides "with a view to further talks".