Talks involving the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) on job cuts in the Western Health Board (WHB) are due to open in Galway tomorrow.
The trade union IMPACT appealed to the LRC to intervene late last week after negotiations between the union and the WHB collapsed.
IMPACT said yesterday that some 80 of the 169 contract posts at risk had already gone. This, however, has not been confirmed by the health board.
Nor has the health board confirmed a claim by SIPTU that it has saved the 47 posts at risk held by members of its union.
A spokeswoman for the board said it had confirmed a one-month extension to contracts for three temporary ward clerks at University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG), and it had extended contracts on eight other posts late last week.
The Galway Alliance of Parents and Carers, a voluntary group representing parents and carers of children with intellectual disabilities, has expressed concerns at the budgetary crisis.
It is "particularly galling for people with intellectual disabilities, their families and carers to witness the continuing argument over who is at fault for the disgraceful budgetary circumstance the Western Health Board finds itself in while, as each day passes, they are left to suffer intolerable conditions and appalling services with little hope for change," Mr Frank Conaty, chairman of the group, said yesterday.
A spokeswoman for the health board has denied claims by IMPACT that a clerical officer working with services for children with Attention Deficit Disorder had been "sacked". She said the team responsible for the development of ADD services would continue to provide the services to three counties.
