A senior officer of the Labour Relations Commission will probably be appointed to chair talks on nursing pay today.
The chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Finbarr Flood, is reported to have forcefully reminded all parties to the negotiations on Saturday that the talks were taking place under the court's auspices. Mr Flood moved quickly to avert a threatened strike ballot by the Irish Nurses' Organisation last Wednesday, when pay talks broke down within hours of starting.
The decision to appoint an LRC chair underlines the "hands-on" approach the court has adopted since it became involved in the dispute late last year. The only difficulty that may arise is finding a suitably experienced officer, as LRC staff are extremely stretched by existing commitments.
Both sides in the nurses' dispute came out of the day-long hearing at the court on Saturday believing they had won significant clarifications. The court substantially upheld the management's position that pay proposals for the new structures could not be discussed until "discussions have been completed on all the jobs and the structures".
The decision of the court to appoint an independent chair to oversee the process meets another management request. The chief executive of the Health Service Employers' Agency, Mr Gerard Barry, said yesterday the employers were "pleased the court's intervention has got the talks back on the rails".
The INO general secretary, Mr Liam Doran, also welcomed the court's intervention. He said a chairman was now needed because of the low level of trust on both sides. He pointed out that the union's objective of bringing forward the pay elements of the talks had also been met.
This will happen not later than seven days after agreement on structures has been reached, Mr Doran added. "We felt the old process would have allowed management to have kept us dangling with no guarantee of a serious money offer on the table until the end of April. The Labour Court intervention has made the process more tenable and saleable to the nurses we represent."
SIPTU nursing official Mr Oliver MacDonagh said his members "would be glad to be back in talks. We want to get down to doing a good, solid job."