THE Government is moving quickly to address the issue of early retirement for nurses in an effort to ensure that they vote in favour of the latest £80 million package on offer.
Government sources said last night that the Pensions Commission is expected to have a preliminary report on early retirement within three months. They also said the Government will accept in full the recommendations of the nursing commission proposed by the Labour Court.
Today the Cabinet will consider draft terms of reference for the commission and the cost implications of the deal. The Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, will outline the options for cuts, but senior sources in Finance said yesterday that if VAT and income tax receipts continue to remain buoyant, it may not be necessary to pursue cuts on the scale envisaged.
Tomorrow the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, will discuss the terms of reference for the nursing commission - to comprise union and management representatives with an independent chairman - with the unions.
The nurses' ballot on the offer also begins tomorrow and concludes on February 21st. If the Court's proposals are rejected, a national nursing strike would begin at 140 hospitals throughout the State on February 24th, when it would have an even greater impact on the health services than that planned for to start yesterday.
Although unions and health managements had a month to prepare for a dispute this week, patient numbers in many acute hospitals were far higher than those provided for in the emergency cover guidelines. There will effectively be only two days to prepare for a strike starting on February 24th.
Government and union sources were unanimous last night that the current ballot was a "last chance" to avert a strike that would be damaging for the public, the health services, the Government and the nursing profession.
The brief balloting period allows very little time for the unions to explain the details of the new offer to nurses. The mood among nurses in some of the more militant Dublin acute hospitals, such as the Mater and Beaumont, remained hostile towards the settlement yesterday, but it will probably be some days before it is possible to assess the mood accurately.
Early retirement and the erosion of pay differentials between staff nurses and ward sisters are the two issues on which criticism has centred. For this reason, the Government is especially anxious to reassure the nurses that these issues will be speedily addressed by the Pensions Commission and the proposed nursing commission.
Spokespeople for both Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats said last night that their parties would honour commitments given by the present Government if they were returned to power after an election.