Nurses at St John's Hospital, Limerick, have begun industrial action in the form of a work-to-rule over what they say are persistent staff shortages at the hospital.
The work-to-rule will involve nurses refusing to undertake certain tasks including routine clerical administration duties as well as cleaning and disposal of waste in theatres.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations Mary Fogarty said
there are 30 nursing vacancies at the 89-bed hospital and the union has engaged with management, asking that services be curtailed pending the recruitment of nurses.
"Those discussion have failed, so nurses will commence a work-to-rule today due to their inability to provide safe care to patients...if we don't have safe staffing levels at our hospitals, which are fundamental, we won't have the delivery of safe and high quality care," she said.
Ms Fogarty said that initially these vacancies could not be filled as they were not able to recruit nurses "quick enough" to fill the vacancies.
"But now they have a moratorium in place that is going to compound this even further," she added.
She said the hospital has advised the INMO that there were potentially 15 nurses who would start over the coming months, but she said with a recruitment embargo it makes the situation worse.
St John's Hospital said it remains available to engage with the INMO to come to a mutually agreed solution and that contingency measures are being put in place while the industrial action commences.
"Nursing staff are in high demand globally," the hospital said in a statement.
"In spite of vacant shifts in the nursing roster in recent months, agreed staffing levels have been supported through the utilisation of agency staff.
"We are working closely with the INMO to ensure that this remains the case for the duration of this dispute."
