THE Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, was accused yesterday by the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) of engaging in a "sleight of hand" when he claimed it would cost £100 million to settle the dispute with the nurses. Fianna Fail also described the £100 million figure as "an absolute fabrication".
Ms Lenore Mrkwicka, the INO assistant general secretary, said Mr Noonan's colleague, the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, had conceded in a radio interview that it would not cost £100 million to settle the outstanding issues in the dispute. Mr Dukes said the £100 million related to "consequential effects" on other groups as well as the full cost of the nurses' claim.
Ms Mrkwicka said Mr Noonan's suggestion that there would inevitably be knock on claims ran counter to an absolute assurance given by the Department of Health management during recent discussions with the nursing unions.
"In September 1994, when negotiations began ... management gave an assurance that pay relativities between nurses and other grades would not prove a barrier to progress", according to Ms Mrkwicka. The fact that the Minister was now seeking to use knock on claims to block settlement with nurses would mean, if carried to its logical conclusion, that nurses would never get justice, Ms Mrkwicka said.
The Fianna Fail spokesman for Labour Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, claimed Mr Noonan has miscalculated the knock on effects of a settlement. He also called on the Minister to cancel a meeting scheduled for this week between the INO and the Health Services Employers' Agency. The meeting had been called to discuss what emergency services will be available for the duration of the strike.
Mr Kitt said this was tantamount to Mr Noonan admitting that a strike is inevitable. "Such a doomsday scenario should not be contemplated by the Minister. If (he) allows this meeting to go ahead, it means in effect that he has thrown in the towel", Mr Kitt said.