St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin has said a controversial plan to use staff recruited under an intern scheme to replace porters at weekends has been put in abeyance pending clarification on whether it is covered under the Haddington Road deal.

About 2,000 staff represented by Siptu in a number of Dublin hospitals, including catering and household staff, technical services employees engaged in the sterilisation of instruments and some laboratory workers, have voted for strike action if health service management goes ahead with such proposals.

The union has maintained that staff concerned were obliged to work weekends for which they received a premium payment.

It said they could lose up to one-third of their total earnings if these payments ended.

The union said it would not accept further cuts in pay for its members and that there was no requirement for clarifications or outside interventions on the issue.