A one-day work stoppage by nurses at Sligo General Hospital has started following the breakdown of talks last night.
The Labour Relations Commission was facilitating talks between hospital management and two nursing unions, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and Siptu.
The dispute is over bed closures and non-renewal of 19 nursing contracts.
The strike is due to begin at 8am and will end at 5pm.
According to Sligo Hospital Management nurses will not provide emergency cover but will provide eight nurses on-call for the whole hospital.
There are currently 210 patients at the hospital.
All elective work has been cancelled at the hospital for the day and consultant and non-consultant doctors are providing care.
Hospital management last night expressed major concerns for patient safety and disappointment in the lack of emergency provision.
Some procedures have been cancelled due to the action including, 21 elective operations, 10 endoscopy procedures, 262 outpatient appointments and 31 day case procedures. Seventeen renal dialysis patients were also transferred to another service.