NURSING union leaders and the Minister for Health are optimistic that renewed talks may avert a national strike in July.
However, their success could hinge on the outcome of meetings between the Government and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions about putting in place a "framework" to discuss public sector pay under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
Mr Noonan received a cool response from the Irish Nurses Organisation when he addressed its conference in Limerick yesterday. There was derisive laughter when he called on the nurses to reflect and take stock of the situation before proceeding with their decision for a national strike.
He reminded them that Government and ICTU representatives were involved in talks "aimed at identifying some way forward from the apparent impasse in relation to a number of pay claims in the public service, including your pay claim.
"I won't pre-empt the outcome of these consultations, but they do reflect the level of serious concern felt on the parts of both the Government and the ICTU about the developing situation in relation to public service pay.
That concern extends beyond the immediate implications of the respective disputes, in terms of either cost or disruption of services, to the possible undermining of the social partnership model for economic and social development."
But Mr Noonan also hinted that, even if the talks between congress and the Government did not resolve the problems posed by threatened industrial action on the part of nurses and teachers, as well as an actual work to rule by civil servants, new ways of tackling the nurses claim would be looked at.
"We will only find a lasting solution if there is a full commitment on all sides to pursue a reasonable and realistic course addressing immediate problems now and agreeing a process for following through on others at a later stage" he said.
Certainly, the general secretary of the INO, Mr P.J. Madden, "seemed more optimistic about a successful outcome to talks following a half hour informal meeting between the Minister and the executive council of the union immediately after Mr Noonan's address to the delegates.
"The Minister has invited us back in to talks and we will go in with the same positive approach as he implied in his remarks," Mr Madden said. He was heartened by the fact that "this is the first time in the middle of a dispute that the Minister who is a party to the dispute sat down with the executive of the union involved to discuss that dispute".
Even if the talks between the Government and ICTU did not significantly change the overall framework for talks, Mr Madden believed there was "a whole range of ways" around the PCW.
For instance, he suggested that the issue of new nursing management structures could be taken out of the PCW negotiations and dealt with under the Government's National, Health Strategy plan, thus freeing money to address other issues.
Informed sources have suggested it would cost another £23 million to remedy defects in, the pay deal, as far as nurses are concerned, such as early retirement, scrapping the lower starting pay for new entrants and eradicating wage anomalies between different grades.
This would bring the overall pay bill to at lead £70 million extra a year. It would take a significant improvement in the present offer to change the mood of nurses.