Nurses in west view proposals with disbelief

"If Liam Doran was down here last night, he would have been eaten up. We really resented being told to come off the pickets before we even had a chance to hear what was on offer on the 6 o'clock news. But I think several days and a few hours of sleep will help all of us, and now we just want to hear what the unions have to say."

The words of one staff nurse in Galway yesterday as she and her colleagues returned to their hospital rounds. Mr Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) and chairman of the Nursing Alliance, is to attempt to "sell" the proposed package to his members in the Western Health Board region at two consultative meetings in Galway tonight. SIPTU members are to be addressed on Monday.

Disbelief, disappointment and anger were still the strongest emotions among nurses in the west yesterday, and some were close to despair. "But I think time, and more information, will help us over the next few days, and I have a lot of time for Liam Doran and just want to hear him speak," Ms Julie Silke, an intensive-care staff nurse and regional representative for the Association of Critical Care Nurses, said.

"The deal may well be accepted, but it would seem to be a very poor offer to those people on the ground," she said.

"My fear is that a lot of people will leave nursing now, particularly in Dublin where one just can't afford it. The Government has really disappointed us. And I intend to ask the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, what he intends to do with the money saved over the past nine days. I would hope he would redirect it into a worthwhile health project, like breast cancer screening or nurse education, which is very poorly funded."

Ms Johanna Downes, ward sister in University College Hospital, Galway, a member of SIPTU and a member of the Western Health Board, said: "The general feeling is that people are very upset that the unions pulled us off the picket before explaining to us what was on offer.

"The Government may feel it has won the war, but it has lost the loyalty of nursing staff in the public sector. We are a very loyal group, with great integrity, and we will not put up with half of the rubbish that is being doled out to us any more, and I am not even talking about the package here."

The Western Health Board's director of public health, Dr Mary Hynes, said full services, including out-patient clinics, planned admissions for surgery and investigations, together with daycare throughout Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, would be restored as soon as possible.