Oireachtas

Cowen signals no talks before nurses' strike

The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, has indicated that the Government will not enter dialogue with nursing unions before the now…

Fri Oct 15 1999 - 01:00

The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, has indicated that the Government will not enter dialogue with nursing unions before the now almost inevitable all-out strike, due to start on Tuesday.

He insisted that acceptance of Labour Court recommendations, combined with the implementation of the Nursing Commission report and continuing discussions with public service unions about a new approach to pay, "provide enough scope to address the nursing issues, both pay and non-pay, in a reasonable way".

Amid sharp exchanges, he was repeatedly pressed about the possibility of Government intervention or his own intercession with the unions to prevent the strike by 27,000 nurses. However, as Ms Jan O'Sullivan (Labour, Limerick East) asked if the Minister would accept third-party intervention, the tetchy hour-long debate was ended without a reply.

During the "special notice question" debate, Mr Cowen said while substantial progress had been made at local level about emergency cover there was still some uncertainty because national agreement had not been reached.

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Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, said it was extraordinary that so much effort was being put into sorting out emergency cover when the Minister had failed to enter dialogue with nurses about preventing the strike.

Mr Cowen rejected this and said the Government had put forward an alternative strategy which would not involve any hardship to the public and would allow the nurses to pursue legitimate grievances they believed they had after the Labour Court's recommendations.

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said the dispute had to be settled at some stage. "Can it be settled in advance of the inevitable deaths that will take place rather than afterwards?"

Mr Cowen replied that the Nursing Alliance "confirmed there is no intention on its part to put lives at risk. We should accept that."

Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said Labour Court recommendations were not mandatory and asked why the nurses were being treated differently from gardai and train-drivers.