The pay dispute between heath support staff and the HSE has been referred to the Labour Court for a preliminary hearing tomorrow morning.
The move comes after the last set of talks at the Workplace Relations Commissions failed to break the deadlock.
The dispute centres on a job evaluation scheme, which the Government agreed to carry out during negotiations on the last Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).
The job evaluations examine whether roles have changed and whether pay rises are warranted.
Affected grades include health care assistants, maternity care assistants, laboratory aides, chefs, and surgical instrument technicians, as well as workers in portering, household and catering services.
Three consecutive days of strike action scheduled for next week have not been suspended.
Up to 10,000 health support staff took part in 24 hours of strike action yesterday which saw significant disruption to patient services at 38 hospitals.
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The HSE has admitted that it struggled to maintain operations in affected hospitals as 10,000 support staff took to the picket line.
SIPTU's Health Division Organiser Paul Bell, said that no meaningful progress was made during the talks today at the WRC.
He said that "all issues were examined and exhausted" during the discussions.
