Nursing staff at St Mary's in Drumcar, Co Louth, which has been criticised for locking mentally and physically handicapped patients up at night and holding them in straitjackets, are preparing to take industrial action. They will meet tonight to decide what form this will take and when it should start.
Ms Patsy Doyle, an industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses' Organisation, said employees were frustrated at inadequate staffing levels.
Nurses had voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action last May but it had been postponed after those operating the home, the St John of God order, agreed at Labour Relations Commission talks to a staffing review.
That review was completed in November and, according to Ms Patsy Doyle, an industrial relations officer with the INO, its recommendations still had not been implemented.
"Our members are very certainly saying to me today they want to protest, especially in relation to the non-implementation of urgent parts of the review which said 30 additional night nurses were needed immediately," Ms Doyle said.
The review also recommended that patients should not be locked in their rooms at night and that the use of restraint in the form of straitjackets should be reviewed.
Talks take place tomorrow in an attempt to resolve a dispute at another residential centre for 90 handicapped persons in Delvin, Co Westmeath.
This centres on a decision by the Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary to replace 10 staff nurse positions at St Mary's with eight care assistant positions after it claimed to have difficulty recruiting nurses. A work-to-rule among INO nurses at the home is ongoing.