NURSES AND MIDWIVES will hold lunchtime protests at hospitals across the country today, as their union criticised Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments about public sector strike action as “a little bit glib”.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said members will demonstrate over cost-of-living pressures and their impact on staffing levels, ahead of planned work stoppages next Wednesday.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Inmo General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha rejected Martin’s suggestion that some public servants wanted industrial action regardless of what the government offered.

The Taoiseach told Newstalk on Wednesday that he got the sense people wanted industrial action “irrespective of what happens”, adding: “I think that’s wrong.”

Responding to the remarks, Ní Sheaghdha said industrial action could still be avoided, but argued that workers had a right to express their dissatisfaction.

“To say that public servants are just taking strike action for the fun of it, I think, is a little bit glib,” Ní Sheaghdha said.

“If we’re serious about trying to find a resolution, I would avoid that type of commentary because it’s absolutely inflammatory.”

Protests are planned at Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Limerick, St Vincent’s University Hospital and the Mater Hospital in Dublin, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Letterkenny University Hospital, Galway University Hospital, Naas General Hospital and Midlands Regional Hospital, Mullingar.

Most demonstrations will take place between 12.30pm and 1.30pm.

INMO members are already engaged in a work-to-rule, which Ní Sheaghdha said had exposed staffing shortages across the health service.

“People are actually doing the job of two people most times when they go to work, and that has been really exposed by the work to rule,” she said.

Ní Sheaghdha warned that the action had already slowed or curtailed some services, with further disruption expected during next Wednesday’s strike.

“Services have been slower, services have been curtailed, and next week, when we have a work stoppage, we understand that the health service will be announcing to the public today that services will be closing.”

Ní Sheaghdha said outpatient and day services in particular could be affected, with some appointments postponed.

She said the HSE was expected to inform patients and GPs of the disruption in advance.

The protests come amid a wider public sector pay dispute, with work stoppages planned for 14 October and further strike action scheduled for 21 October.

The previous public sector pay agreement expired at the end of June.

In Tuesday’s budget, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers announced that €1.2 billion had been allocated towards a new public sector pay agreement.

Chambers said the funding demonstrated the government’s seriousness about reaching a deal and called on unions to re-engage in negotiations and stand down their industrial action.

“I would now call on ICTU and other associations to match this intent by re-engaging as a matter of urgency and standing down the ongoing industrial action,” Chambers said.

However, unions have said the funding is not enough to resolve the dispute.

Asked whether the budget had changed members’ minds, Ní Sheaghdha said public servants did not believe enough had been done.

“They don’t believe it was a worker-facing budget, and that their mind hasn’t changed and hasn’t been shifted,” Ní Sheaghdha said.

She added that the government needed to listen to workers’ concerns over pay and the cost of living if it wanted to avoid further industrial action.