Inside this exceptional Victorian home overlooking Killiney Bay
Inside this exceptional Victorian home overlooking Killiney Bay

Sarah Gill

My Career: Head of 3Arena Private Members Club Virginia Fortune
My Career: Head of 3Arena Private Members Club Virginia Fortune

Sarah Gill

6 wines to try this summer, according to an expert
6 wines to try this summer, according to an expert

Michelle Lawlor

The IMAGE staffers share what’s on their summer wishlists
The IMAGE staffers share what’s on their summer wishlists

Sarah Gill

Small bathroom ideas we’re nabbing from these Irish homes
Small bathroom ideas we’re nabbing from these Irish homes

Megan Burns

Here are the interiors trends we’ll all be searching this summer (and how to shop them)
Here are the interiors trends we’ll all be searching this summer (and how to shop...

Megan Burns

Owner and head chef of Restaurant Chestnut Rob Krawczyk shares his life in food
Owner and head chef of Restaurant Chestnut Rob Krawczyk shares his life in food

Sarah Gill

Women in Sport: Professional Golfer Anna Foster
Women in Sport: Professional Golfer Anna Foster

Sarah Gill

IMAGE staffer Jennifer Sheerin’s wellness routine balances busy days with carving out space for herself
IMAGE staffer Jennifer Sheerin’s wellness routine balances busy days with carving out space for herself

Jennifer Sheerin

This three-storey Dalkey home has the most beautiful sloping gardens
This three-storey Dalkey home has the most beautiful sloping gardens

IMAGE

Image / Editorial

Irish ambulance staff announce plans to strike for three more days


By Jennifer McShane
06th Feb 2019
Irish ambulance staff announce plans to strike for three more days

It was announced on Wednesday evening up to 500 ambulance service personnel are to go on strike for three more days in the coming weeks.

This is the latest wave of strike action to protest Ireland’s crumbling health service following the nurses strike, the controversy surrounding the cost of the new children’s hospital and the National Association of GPs (NAGP) protest which took place on Wednesday.

Related: Irish GPs to protest insufficient funding outside the Dáil today

When are the strikes? 

The staff concerned, who are members of the National Ambulance Service Representative Association (Nasra), are to stage work stoppages on Friday, February 15th; Thursday, February 28th; and Friday, March 1st. Nasra is a branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA).

The action will run from 7am to 5 pm each day.

Related: #StandWithNurses: Strike action to be extended in February

Why are they striking?

The dispute centres on the deduction of union subscription fees from members’ pay as well as a demand that the HSE recognises their union.

Workers already staged a 10-hour work stoppage at the end of January.

Peter Hughes, PNA General Secretary, said of the plans to strike: “ [These] strike days are considerable escalation of the industrial action taken to-date by ambulance personnel and show their resolve to be represented by the union of their choice, and not by a trade union that the HSE wants to force them to join.”

Sinead McGrath, National Chair of Nasra, also called on Health Minister Simon Harris to avoid further escalation in the dispute and “instruct the HSE to engage with the industrial relations machinery to end this dispute.”

The HSE has yet to comment on the strikes.