SERIOUS difficulties have arisen in relation to the levels and extent of emergency cover to be provided in Dublin's major acute hospitals if next Monday's strike by nurses goes ahead.
According to both union and management sources, local strike committees have been reluctant to provide the levels of cover agreed by unions in negotiations at national level.
The acute hospitals in Dublin are Beaumont, the Mater, the James Connolly Memorial, St James's, the Meath and St Vincent's.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Labour Court, Ms Evelyn Owens, is to meet separately with management and unions later today. The talks are of an exploratory nature.
Ms Owens has the power to convene a hearing into any dispute if she feels it is in the public interest to do so. However, that she has not done so in this instance is a measure of the pessimism which exists on both sides.
It is thought unlikely that Ms Owens will hold a formal hearing ahead of Monday's strike unless she feels, as a result of today's discussions, that serious progress can be made towards reaching a settlement.
The Irish Nurses' Union, the largest nursing union, has not helped its case with the court by the contents of recent guidelines sent to members. A section of these read: "Members should ... expect that intensive efforts will be made, possibly by a body such as the Labour Court, to avert the strike in the final days before the strike. The executive council has already decided that, regardless of any request for same by the Labour Court, or anyone else, the strike will go ahead unless our demands are fully met."
The general secretary of the INO, Mr P.J. Madden, is understood to have written to Ms Owens apologising for the comments. However, their tenor indicates the strength of feeling among nurses.
Meanwhile, the Irish Medical Organisation has issued its own set of strike guidelines. Its members will bear the brunt of the extra workload in hospitals if the dispute is not resolved.
The IMO's director of industrial relations, Mr Conal Devine, who represents hospital doctors, said yesterday that in some areas the level of emergency cover was "potentially a very, very serious matter".
Mr Devine says that local hospital managements should establish what levels of service they will be providing and inform the public of these.
Hospitals are expected to publish details of anticipated reductions in services from tomorrow.
Mr Devine accepted that there were potential difficulties" in providing cover in Dublin.
"What we are depending on is that people will err on the side of caution. I don't think anyone wants patients to suffer, and that's the direction the IMO is coming from. The numbers of nurses willing to work without pay shows their commitment."
He estimated that some accident and emergency services might need more than normal staffing because of the pressure they would feel as other health services closed down.
Maol Muire Tynan add& In spite of Government apprehension at the negative political impact of a nurses' strike, senior sources yesterday expressed concern that it would go ahead on Monday.
"Nobody wants a nurses's strike. No political party would relish it. We want it resolved, but nobody seems to know what it takes to settle the dispute and avert a strike", one Government source added.