Its members have reacted angrily to the news that no pay increase was recommended for around 25,000 staff nurses or midwives, and that a special allowance for nurses working in Dublin was also rejected.
Another nurses' union, the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, says it now plans to consult widely with its members on the benchmarking result.
The General Secretary of the PNA, Des Kavanagh, said the union is commissioning a report into the success of a campaign by nurses in Finland, who won a 24% pay rise last November after threatening to resign en masse from the health system.
Both the INO and PNA unions ended 44 days of industrial action last year, after a narrow vote in favour of a settlement which saw their pay claims going to the benchmarking process.
