THE Fianna Fail health spokeswoman urged the Minister for Health to intervene in the nurses' dispute. "The Minister is wrong to be remaining at arm's length from the dispute," Mrs Maire Geoghegan-Quinn said in an adjournment debate.

"At this stage, after two rejections of the pay offer, the Minister should get directly involved and try one last effort. He should respond to the request from the unions and hold a direct meeting with them."

If a national nursing strike went ahead, the entire health service would grind to a halt. The resulting chaos was "unthinkable". The Minister should act while there was still time.

The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, appealed to the Irish Nurses Organisation and the other unions to reconsider their strategy and adopt an approach "more in keeping with the partnership model of industrial relations".