Nurses should receive £1,250 each in lump sums within a matter of days which will offset losses from their nine-day strike. This is the first instalment of a £125 million pay package which they have accepted by more than two to one in this week's ballot.
Altogether, since the nurses' dispute began in 1996, they have received awards worth over £220 million. This has involved pay increases of 26 per cent to staff nurses, 37.4 per cent to ward sisters and 46.6 per cent to directors of nursing.
Nursing Alliance leaders will be meeting the Health Service Employers' Association on Tuesday to discuss a timetable for the implementation of various aspects of this year's three Labour Court awards. They will be meeting the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, later that day to discuss the wider implications of the dispute.
Last night Mr Cowen welcomed the ballot result. He said it was "very good news for patients, the nursing profession and the health service in general".
The total number of people seeking non-elective procedures to the end of June was 33,924, a fall of more than 2,600 on the same time last year.
After announcing the results yesterday the chairman of the Nursing Alliance, Mr Liam Doran, said that the dispute was "only a staging post" on the journey towards securing full recognition for nurses as health professionals.
"No one wants what we had over the last three weeks," he said. "The onus is on the employers to ensure it never happens again."
Mr Doran's own union, the Irish Nurses' Organisation, and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association voted by over 70 per cent for acceptance of the terms, and IMPACT members did so by 80 per cent. However, only 62 per cent of SIPTU members accepted them.
One reason may be that SIPTU has a higher percentage of ward sisters in membership who gained nothing from the strike action. In contrast, IMPACT represents a high proportion of public health nurses who benefited from an extension of allowances. SIPTU's national nursing officer, Mr Oliver McDonagh, said the result of the ballot underlined the importance of making progress with the Minister in ensuring that the recommendations of the Commission on Nursing were implemented quickly. He said the strike had been "a major moral victory for nurses."
The general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, Mr Des Kavanagh, said that a huge amount of anger and frustration still existed among nurses over shortcomings in the health services. IMPACT's national health services officer, Mr Kevin Callinan, said the Government faced a challenge in meeting the aspirations of "all disaffected health service workers". He warned the management side that any attempt to renege on commitments would have wide-ranging repercussions.
Mr Callinan is involved in negotiations on behalf of 3,000 paramedics for a further pay review based on their 1997 award. Over 2,000 non-consultant hospital doctors in the Irish Medical Organisation and 22,000 non-nursing grade workers in SIPTU are also lining up to present claims on issues ranging from working hours to pensions.