Around 1,000 nurses are attending a rally in Dublin today to express their frustration over pay and conditions.
INO members at a previous protest.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) are holding the rally in the Helix at Dublin City University to support their move to abandon benchmarking.
Both unions have opted out of benchmarking and have referred eight claims to the Labour Court, which are due to be heard next Tuesday.
The unions claim nurses have to work for 21 years before being paid the same as childcare workers who over each year earn €2,000 to €3,000 more than nurses.
Members are seeking a 35-hour week and a 10.6 per cent pay rise, plus an allowance for working in Dublin.
David Hughes INO deputy general secretary, said: "We're trying to send a very strong message to the courts that the claims need to be dealt with now. No more time wasting - we need an answer now."
Mr Hughes said the protests will continue and escalate in the absence of a satisfactory response from the Government. "We will have various different stages of raising it to different levels, but the bottom line is that 40,000 nurses and midwives cannot be ignored," he said.
Psychiatric nurse, Noirin Kenny
Psychiatric nurse Noirín Kenny (49) travelled from Ballinasloe, Co Galway, to take part in her first pay protest.
"I've been working a 39-hour week for that last 32 years and I'm coming home with €550 in my pocket and I don't think that's enough for all the years of experience that I have," she said.
"I have three children, all at college, and I cannot survive on the pay I have. I can't keep going the way I'm going."
She predicted a looming crisis in the profession because it cannot attract new staff at the current rates of pay.
Additional reporting PA