Talks to end the nurses' strike began late last night after the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and senior civil servants agreed a framework for negotiations. Earlier in the day, up to 10,000 nurses marched through Dublin to voice their demands for better pay and working conditions and better services for patients.
The deputy chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Kevin Duffy, will preside over the process. He will look at the grievances of the Nursing Alliance and the concerns of the Government about the implications for public service pay and the social partnership aspects of Partnership 2000.
When the talks adjourned shortly after midnight, the chairman of the Nursing Alliance, Mr Liam Doran, said: "It will take a number of hard days' discussions to formulate a final document."
The alliance has no plans to lift pickets while the initial talks take place. They are expected to take three or four days.
Hospitals are therefore likely to remain with emergency cover only over the October bank holiday weekend. This will be greeted with dismay by hospital managements and doctors, who intensified their calls yesterday for a speedy resolution to the dispute.
Dublin's five main acute hospitals said the existing conditions were tenable only in the very short term. Senior medical staff at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin are considering the transfer of patients to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow.
A non-consultant doctor at University College Hospital Galway said yesterday that, if a typical bank holiday weekend road accident were to occur, "it's quite likely someone would die".
However union leaders told thousands of nurses who attended a rally at the GPO in Dublin to remain united in the face of "moral blackmailing". Mr Doran, was cheered loudly when he warned the Government "there cannot be social partnership and cohesion in a country which has a £2 billion current budget surplus, with beds closed in the Mater Hospital and theatres closed in St Vincent's because we haven't got enough of the human resources of qualified personnel. That is wrong and it's a scandal."
Mr Des Kavanagh, general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, said "every pound won will be hard fought for. Every percentage gained will be achieved at some cost and some pain."
Last night the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Cowen, welcomed the agreement. He E's nine o'clock news programme he said the new arrangements allowed "equal status to the Nursing Alliance to pursue its agenda, while the Government and social partners uphold their principles of social partnership".
The Government had been able to move into talks with the ICTU after the alliance had indicated its willingness to take account of the Government's position on social partnership.
Last night, before entering talks, Mr Kavanagh, for the PNA and Mr David Hughes, for the Irish Nurses' Organisation, both indicated that they still wanted long service recognition for staff nurses but dropped references to increments, which the Government had warned would lead to major knock-on claims.
Yesterday evening the director general of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, Mr John Dunne, joined senior civil servants and ICTU leaders at Government Buildings to examine the terms of reference for the talks process and ensure they were compatible with national agreements.
Besides the paralysis caused to the health services, the strike has begun to affect the timetable for talks on a successor to Partnership 2000.