Nurses urged to vote in favour of package which averted strike

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he hopes nurses will vote in favour of the package which led to the deferral of their threatened strike.

“I am glad that the INMO has reached an agreement with the HSE management to call off the strike,” he said.

Mr Kenny said the number of patients on trolleys at 8am on Tuesday was 290, a reduction of 33 per cent on the same day last year. While it was still too many, it was very much down.

FF criticism

The Taoiseach was replying in the Dáil on Tuesday to Fianna Fáil TD Sean Ó Fearghail, who said hundreds of patients across the country had their elective procedures deferred and would join the thousands of people on waiting lists.

“This is shoddy, to say the least, insofar as the union gave very considerable notice it intended taking this industrial action,” said Mr Ó Fearghail.

The Government, he said, had a habit of allowing situations to become chaotic before taking action.

To add insult to injury, said Mr Ó Fearghail, it was learned from The Irish Times there was a shortfall of €100 million in the 2016 service plan.

Mr Kenny said the service plan would be published on Wednesday, adding that Minister for Health Leo Varadkar had made it clear there was no diminution in any service.