Delegates at the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) annual conference in Cavan have unanimously passed a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health Mary Harney.
In a lengthy debate, the Minister was accused of failing patients and nurses and also of promoting private health insurance.
Ms Harney yesterday rejected the nurses' demands for better pay and conditions after they decided to hold a mass rally in Dublin next month in protest at their situation.
Ms Harney said the nurses' pay claim amounts to €1.5 billion, which was "not affordable" and "will not be paid". She added, however, that nurses were fully entitled to protest and that a balance had to be struck between financing new services for patients and paying existing staff.
Irish nurses were the second best-paid in the world, she added, before stressing that she had a high regard for nurses despite their differences over pay. She said the mechanism to deal with public sector pay demands was benchmarking and that the INO had opted out of that.
But INO general secretary Liam Doran said nurses were the second-lowest frontline workers in the health service and the Labour Court could not be influenced by statements from the Tánaiste who said the demands were unaffordable.
Thousands of nurses and midwives will converge on Croke Park on June 14th for a major rally to express frustration over their pay and conditions.
The decision to hold the rally was taken on foot of an emergency motion tabled at the INO's annual conference yesterday where delegates were angry over nurses having to work for 21 years before being paid the same amount as childcare workers, qualified or unqualified.
Over each of the other years, childcare workers earn €2,000 to €3,000 a year more than nurses.
The move comes after the Minister rejected nurses demands for improved pay and working conditions.
