A pay claim lodged by nurses which is likely to dominate proceedings at the Irish Nurses Organisation's annual conference this morning is "not affordable", Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday.
As she came under fire from the INO for failing to attend its conference, Ms Harney hit back, saying "no group have done better than nurses in Ireland".
She said some of their salaries have gone up by 91 per cent since 1997. "All the salaries have gone up by over 60 per cent".
She added that the cost of the current play claim lodged by nurses was €1.5 billion. "That is not sustainable. That is not affordable. That will not be paid," she said.
However, last night the general secretary of the INO, Liam Doran, said his union was awaiting a date for a Labour Court hearing on the pay claim. "The Tánaiste's views are not surprising but they are not the final view."
He added that if nurses had done so well why was it that it would take nurses graduating this year 21 years to earn more than a social care worker, qualified or unqualified. The INO wants this anomaly addressed. It also wants a special allowance for nurses working in Dublin and a reduction in their working week from 39 to 35 hours.
Ms Harney also said there was no question of a special allowance being paid to nurses working in Dublin. "That would have wider implications across the public service and that is not something that can be given to one group of public servants over and above another. And clearly any kind of an allowance for the capital would have to apply to teachers and every other public servant," she said.
The INO has opted out of benchmarking.
Meanwhile, on the subject of her failure to accept an invitation to speak at the INO conference in Cavan today, Ms Harney told reporters in Dublin this was purely because she had a prior engagement. She is travelling to a conference in Pennsylvania tomorrow.
She rejected the suggestion she was afraid of getting a frosty reception. "Well anyone that thinks that I'm afraid of any group would want to think again," she said.
But Labour's health spokeswoman Liz McManus said Ms Harney's decision not to attend appeared to be an act of political cowardice.
"For a Minister who was once able to mobilise the Air Corps to allow her to get to Manorhamilton to open an off-licence, the logistics of getting from Cavan to Pennsylvania should not prove a major challenge," she said.
On a separate issue, Ms Harney last night met Fianna Fáil backbenchers to discuss issues of concern in their areas.