The head of the Irish Nurses Organisation, Madeline Spiers, has told RTÉ News she will back a vote of no confidence in the Minister for Health, Mary Harney.
The motion is due to be debated by delegates at the INO annual conference later this week.
Ms Spiers said that Ms Harney has failed to deliver and that she has not shown a commitment to public health. She added that the Minister no longer has a credible plan to deal with the A&E crisis and that she has completely lost nurses’ trust and confidence.
However a spokesman for the Minister for Health has described the motion as ‘somewhat predictable in the run up to the annual conference’.
The spokesman said there are currently more nurses working in this country than ever before and that the motion ignores the huge level of investment made by the Government in nursing training and education, and the radical changes on issues like nurse prescribing and clinical nurse specialists.
On its criticisms of the Tánaiste's ten-point plan to address the crisis in A&E departments, the spokesman said the A&E issue is being dealt with on a hospital by hospital basis, and requires cooperation from all those working at all levels in our hospitals.
Asked about Ms Harney's inability to attend the conference as normal, the spokesman said the Tánaiste had long-standing plans to examine cancer care facilities in the US and therefore would be out of the country.
