Nurses working in overcrowded accident and emergency units across the State have voted to begin lunchtime protests outside affected hospitals in a last-ditch attempt for improved conditions.
The nurses, who are members of the Irish Nurses Organisation, will begin the protests in just over two weeks if their plan is sanctioned by their union's executive council.
The campaign, Enough is Enough, was devised on a day when there were again large numbers of patients on trolleys in A&E units across the State. The INO said there were 246 patients on trolleys.
After a national meeting of A&E nurses, the INO's deputy general secretary, Mr Dave Hughes, said: "This represents a catalogue of human misery which nurses can no longer tolerate and which they say is grossly unacceptable in a developed and wealthy country."
He added that nurses wanted the hospital protests, due to begin on Tuesday, February 22nd, to involve the public, patient interest groups, doctors and all healthcare workers in a massive show of solidarity designed to put pressure on the Government to deliver on its own health strategy, which promised 3,000 extra beds.
Mr Hughes said the bed crisis in hospitals and the numbers waiting on trolleys for admission were far worse now than they were 10 years ago. Nurses were "battled and bewildered from the gruelling daily experience of working in overcrowded and unsafe emergency departments".
The nurses also called for an urgent meeting with the Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, to discuss a timeframe for the implementation of her €70 million plan to ease the problem.
Ms Harney has said it will be the autumn before people will see a measurable improvement in conditions in A&E.