RTÉ News, June 5, 2007
The Psychiatric Nurses Association has voted by a narrow majority in favour of the settlement proposals which brought an end to the recent nurses' dispute. The 6,500-strong union voted by 53% to 47% in favour of accepting the proposals put forward by the National Implementation Body which brought an end to the recent seven-week long nurses' work-to-rule. The proposals will see the working week for nurses cut to 37.5 hours by June next year. An independent commission will examine how and when a 35-hour week can be achieved. The nurses' claim for a 10.6% pay rise will be dealt with through the benchmarking process. The result of today's ballot is similar to that of the Irish Nurses Organisation, which voted last month to accept the proposals by 5

Irish Emigrant, May 25, 2007
Some 22,000 of 31,000 eligible members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation have voted to accept settlement proposals put forward by the National Implementation Body and have returned to normal working this morning. The vote in favour was 54% to 46%. The much smaller Psychiatric Nurses' Organisation has still to complete balloting its members but whatever the outcome there is little chance that they will continue with industrial action on their own. Under the terms of the NIB deal the 10.6% pay claim will be dealt with by the benchmarking body, a 37.5-hour week will be introduced in June 2008, a committee will examine how a 35-hour week can be achieved in a cost-neutral manner and around 50 nurses will receive an immediate pay increase to correct an

Angela Long, Irish Health, May 24, 2007 The two-month industrial action is over, with acceptance by the main union of proposals to settle their demands. Nurses ended their work-to-rule this morning. They had also stage a number of stopworks since the end of April. The Irish Nurses Organisation voted narrowly in favour of recommendations put forward last week by the National Implementation Body (NIB). The main ones of these offered a 37.5 hour working week from next 2008, with a pay claim to go to the benchmarking process. The NIB, which reports to the Department of the Taoiseach, is responsible for maintaining delivery of the social partnership agreements. ... Long-running

RTÉ News, May 24, 2007
A work-to-rule by nurses ended at 8 AM this morning following the result of yesterday's ballot. Members of the Irish Nurses Organisation voted by 54% to 46% to accept the proposals to end their 52-day dispute over pay and working hours. Under the settlement proposals, nurses and midwives were offered a 37.5-hour week by June next year, as well as an independent commission to examine how and when a 35-hour week can be achieved. The main pay issues must be dealt with through benchmarking. INO General Secretary Liam Doran said the margin showed how divided nurses remained on the issue. The news was welcomed by the Health Service Executive and its Chief Executive, Professor Brendan Drumm. The result of the ballot of members of the Psychiatric Nurses Associatio

Eithne Donnellan, Irish Times, May 24, 2007 The 7 1/2-week-old nurses' dispute is effectively over following a decision by members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) to vote, albeit it by a relatively narrow margin, in favour of settlement proposals. The outcome of the ballot of INO members was 54 per cent in favour and 46 per cent against the proposals, which will see the working week for nurses cut to 37 1/2  hours by June next year. The INO has almost 40,000 members, but just over 31,000 were eligible to vote in the ballot, with most student nurses, agency nurses and members working in private hospitals excluded. The union said that there had been a 70 per cent turnout. ... Strike

Eilish O'Regan, Irish Inependent, May 24, 2007 A peace package aimed at ending the action was accepted by a narrow majority of Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) members yesterday. It means the disruptive work-to-rule by nurses, who were refusing to answer phones or use computers, will end. Government ministers and TDs who fear a public backlash over the health service as the nation goes to the polls heaved a huge sigh of relief at the result. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Health Minister Mary Harney and HSE chief Brendan Drumm were among those who welcomed the vote last night. ... Nurses

Irish Examiner, May 24, 2007 Hospital consultants will not get a 2% pay increase because of their industrial action, the Government said tonight. The Department of Health and Children said it will not sanction the payment to members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), which was due to be paid on June 1. The wage rise was due under the partnership agreement, Towards 2016. The IHCA said it is disappointed with the announcement and plans to appeal the decision. ... Industrial

Irish Examiner, May 24, 2007
Nurses around the country are ending their long-running work-to-rule this morning after voting in favour of new proposals to address their demands. More than 40,000 members of the INO and PNA have been engaged in the action for several weeks in pursuit of a 10% pay rise and a 35-hour working week. However, the two unions announced last night that 54% of nurses had voted to accept new proposals put forward by the National Implementation Body. The NIB has recommended that the working week for nurses be reduced from 39 to 37.5 hours in June of next year. An independent commission will also be established to evaluate how a further reduction to 35 hours can be achieved. Meanwhile, the nurses have had to capitulate on their pay demand, which the NIB says can only be dealt with via the benchmarking process.

Liam Doran, General Secretary, Irish Nurses Organisation, May 24, 2007 This is just a note, following acceptance by the members, yesterday (Wednesday, 23rd May 2007), of the NIB proposals in order to advise you as to what we are doing, in the short term, to progress implementation of key aspects of the agreements. In particular I wish to advise you of the following: 1. Monies Due Under Towards 2016 Agreement The Organisation is now making contact with the relevant parties in order to ensure the earliest possible payment of all monies now due following yesterday’s ballot and acceptance of this social partnership agreement. ... Pay

Associated Press, May 23, 2007 A narrow majority of hospital nurses accepted a compromise plan and ended their 8-week-old protests without achieving most of their demands on pay and working hours. About 54 percent of the 35,000 members of the Irish Nurses Organization voted to accept the plan proposed last week by government-appointed mediators. But 46 percent rejected the plan, which offers a June 2008 cut in work time to 371⁄2 hours but no pay-raise guarantees. Irish Nurses Organization leader Liam Doran said the substantial "no" vote "demonstrates just how angry many nurses are at their treatment by the government and management." ... Irish

Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Irish Times, May 23, 2007 Nurses have voted in favour of proposals to end their six-week campaign of industrial action. The Irish Nurses Organisation, which represents the majority of nurses, said tonight that 54 per cent of its members had voted to accept the National Implementation Body's recommendations. As a result, the INO said, its work-to-rule would officially end at 8am tomorrow. The NIB's proposals allow for a 37.5 hour working week by June 2008 and the creation of an independent commission to examine the means by which a 35-hour week could be introduced without increasing costs. The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) ballot is due on June 5th. ... Nurses

Irish Nurses Organisation, May 23, 2007 The Irish Nurses Organisation formally announce the result of a ballot of its members in relation to the recommendations of the National Implementation Body. The NIB recommendations provide for the introduction of a 37.5 hour week from June 1st, 2008 and the establishment of a Commission, chaired by an eminent person, to recommend how and when the 35 hour week should be fully introduced for nurses and midwives. They also provide for an examination of the enhanced role of the nurse and midwife by the Public Service Benchmarking Body. ... INO

Irish Independent Editorial, May 23, 2007 When the Health Service Executive came into being in January 2005 it was to be the panacea for an unwieldy, inefficient bureaucracy, but in those two years it has failed to win over a sceptical public. There is a feeling that, instead of change for the better, we have got the worst of two worlds. The perception is that the original structures have never been dismantled and a new tier of bureaucracy has been added to the old. Nobody wants to see the return of the old system of the eight health boards operating across the country, with local politicians, consultants, health unions and area health service managers meeting once a month in some council chamber to decide health policy for the region. ... Trimming

Michael Brennan, Eilish O'Regan & Gene McKenna, Irish Independent, May 23, 2007 The cuts will affect hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway as well as ambulance services and hospices by the end of this year. The plan was embarassingly revealed in a leaked HSE memo as health - the key issue of the campaign - once again took centre stage with just 24 hours to go until polling. The Taoiseach was also angrily challenged yesterday about his comments in a TV interview that there were only "peripheral problems" with some aspects of the health service. ... HSE

IOL, May 21, 2007 Hospital consultants are staging the first day of an industrial dispute over new contracts today. The senior doctors will boycott meetings with health service employers and officials in a disagreement over the Government’s plan to appoint new consultants. During the campaign of action, members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) will also stop providing cover for colleagues on leave, except in emergencies, and step down from some hospital and national committees. More than 1,000 consultants voted in favour of the strike action, which will be confined to public hospitals. The IHCA said the campaign will not affect patient care, with consultants meeting their normal clinical commitments. ... Consultants