Nurses are due to stop work in at least six hospitals across the State by the end of this week in an escalation of their campaign of industrial action over pay and conditions.
Three hospitals are expected to be affected on Wednesday and another three on Friday, unless attempts are made in the meantime to resolve the dispute.
It is understood that St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin is due to be targeted for work stoppages by nurses on Wednesday along with two hospitals in the regions, possibly in the south and west.
Full details of the plan will be finalised when the leaders of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association (PNA) meet this morning.
It is expected that further work stoppages affecting another three hospitals on Friday will be announced on Wednesday. It is understood one of these will be a Dublin hospital, possibly on the north side of the city.
The industrial action by 40,000 nurses who are members of the INO and PNA began with a work to rule a week ago today. Under this, nurses are not answering non-essential telephone calls or carrying out clerical or IT duties.
They are campaigning for a 10.6 per cent pay increase and a 35-hour rather than a 39-hour working week.
Last night there was still no sign of any moves to resolve the dispute.
Gerry O'Dwyer, of the Health Service Executive's national hospital's office, said the HSE would be seeking a meeting with the INO and PNA today to discuss the work stoppages and contingency arrangements for them.
He said the HSE, in conjunction with the hospitals being targeted, would have to make decisions about whether elective surgery and other services could go ahead during the stoppages.
Liam Doran, general secretary of the INO, said the work stoppages would be short but their precise length will be announced today. It is expected they will initially be for one to two hours. He stressed that during the stoppages emergency cover will be provided. "The basic template we will be using is night duty staffing levels in inpatient units and wards," he said.
"If one-to-one nursing is required in a specialist unit that will be maintained without question," he added. But he admitted he expected elective surgery, as well as outpatient clinics and day services, to be disrupted as a result of the work stoppages.
Asked if in due course work stoppages would take place at all hospitals at the same time he said: "We have a mandate for rolling regional work stoppages of short duration . . . but whether we might amalgamate them or repeat them in certain hospitals, that is a matter for the strategy committee and will be kept under review in the absence of meaningful negotiations".
Des Kavanagh, general secretary of the PNA, said that one week into the dispute nurses remained resolute. "Obviously the Government have gone on a huge public relations attack and have tried to sow doubts in the minds of ourselves and our members but we warned the members in advance to anticipate that kind of attack and we don't expect that it will have any impact on them. Our members remain resolute because their claims are very justified both on the 35-hour week and the pay anomaly," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Doran said he regarded a suggestion that the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, would withdraw flexible working arrangements if a 35-hour week was introduced as "an antagonistic statement". He said flexi-time was available to all health service workers of all grades.