Historic Irish healthcare strike movement: 2019 and again in 2026

dossier

“Around 37,000 nurses and midwives are on strike in Ireland, and more than 50,000 consultations were canceled across the country on Tuesday alone. According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO), which represents the professional interests of nursing staff in the Republic, 240 clinics, community practices, health centers and other Irish healthcare facilities are now on strike. It's about higher wages and better working conditions. (…) The INMO announced on Tuesday that further nationwide strikes would follow. Between February 12th and February 21st alone, work will be stopped on five days across the country. Nursing staff are demanding better pay and more efforts from Irish politicians to improve general working conditions for nurses in the Republic…" - from theArticle “Nurses are on strike nationwide” on February 6, 2019 in the Ärzte-Zeitung . See further articles on the strike in the Irish healthcare system - including its renewal in 2026:

• On October 14th and 21st there will be nationwide strike days in the health and public services in Ireland - around permanent work to rule
  “…At the heart of our conflict is an extremely modest demand: working people must not be expected to fall further behind, and our public services must not be further degraded and fall even further behind our EU partners. The cost of living crisis is pushing many ordinary workers into ever-increasing debt and forcing them to live from week to week. Public services must be strengthened again. Profiteering in services such as garbage collection and childcare must end, and where these services can best be provided under public control we must work towards this. Rents, mortgages, fuel, food, energy, child care and transportation are costing a generation more productive than any other their wealth…” From the English.Report from the SIPTU union from October 3, 2026 (“Ten days until the biggest Union Strike in a generation”, machine translated) – see more information:
  • Doctors join public sector strike in October
    “The October 14 strike follows an indefinite work-to-order action by IMO members due to a lack of progress in collective bargaining in the public sector. Specialists, junior doctors (NCHDs) and public and community health doctors will join workers across the public sector in a nationwide strike in two weeks. Members of the Irish Medical Organization (IMO) will stop work from the start of their shift until 5pm on October 14th. The one-day strike will be followed by a work-to-order action that begins on October 15 and will continue "until further notice," the IMO said in a circular to its members. (…)
    Last week the IMO announced that members had overwhelmingly voted in favor of industrial action in response to the government's inaction on a new public sector collective agreement and failure to complete local collective bargaining due under the last agreement.
    GPs were not interviewed as they are not directly employed by the HSE.The IMO said it plans to meet with HSE representatives this week, while the union will contact its members with further details on the industrial action in the coming days.
    The union's announcement means doctors will join nurses and other healthcare and public sector workers in a nationwide strike day. A second day of strike is also planned for October 21st.
    This follows a 24-hour work-to-order campaign by healthcare workers belonging to the Fórsa, SIPTU and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) unions. As part of this action, nurses refused to attend non-clinical meetings and work outside of scheduled hours. (…)
    Unions have accused the government of failing to move forward with negotiations on a new public sector collective agreement after the last agreement expired at the end of June. However, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said the government “wants to have these discussions”. “What we saw here was a desire for industrial action rather than a willingness to sit down at the negotiating table and have discussions,” he told RTE radio.
    "We are making arrangements for a collective agreement in 2027 to improve the wages and working conditions of public sector workers through a negotiation process, and this can only happen if the unions are prepared to have substantive discussions. The reason for this escalation is that they have not been prepared to do so.” EnglishArticle by Michael McHale from September 30, 2026 in Irish Medical Times (machine translated)
  • Health department escalates conflict in 30 hospitals
    “The SIPTU Health Department today (22 September) informed the HSE and private hospital employers that more than 11,000 members across 30 hospitals will stage a day-long strike on Wednesday 14 October - a significant escalation in the union's campaign to secure meaningful pay negotiations in the public sector.
    The strike follows a one-day mandatory service by members of the SIPTU Health Department on September 30.
    While on duty, members will withdraw all voluntary flexibility and accommodations that employers increasingly rely on to maintain service operations, including the performance of non-scheduled overtime and other voluntary additional duties.
    The escalation follows what SIPTU describes as the government's continued failure to establish a forum to negotiate a new public sector collective agreement after the current collective agreement expires on June 30.
    The planned strike will affect 30 major hospitals across the country and represents a significant escalation of healthcare workers' campaign for a fair and sustainable wage agreement that reflects the reality of the ongoing cost of living crisis.
    SIPTU Health Branch Organizer Kevin Figgis said: “Our members have shown extraordinary patience since the current public sector collective bargaining agreement expired at the end of June…” EnglishSIPTU notification dated September 22, 2026 with the list of 30 hospitals (machine translated)
  • Health workers from the Siptu union in 30 hospitals will take industrial action later this month.
    “They will join members of the Fórsa union and take part in industrial action on September 30th. This came after both unions voted overwhelmingly in favor of industrial action, including strikes, in separate votes, as negotiations over a new public sector collective agreement were delayed. The previous collective agreement for the public sector expired at the end of June. It provided for general wage increases of 9.25% for public sector workers and a local bargaining fund of 1%. Formal negotiations on a successor contract have not yet begun.
    Siptu represents over 42,000 healthcare workers in hospitals, emergency services, clinics and community health facilities.
    The union said its members will be on duty at 30 hospitals on Sept. 30 and will withdraw from voluntary extra work, such as overtime that is not scheduled. Members will continue to work their regular shifts, perform their usual duties, and fulfill their professional and legal obligations.
    "Our members have made their position clear. They want a new collective agreement for the public service and they want the government to enter into a proper negotiation process with the ICTU's Civil Service Committee," said Kevin Figgis, organizer of the Siptu Health Department. He said health care workers continued to provide essential public services and were asked to “do more with less, work overtime and muster the goodwill necessary to keep the service running.”  "Our members, like other workers, have suffered the consequences of the cost of living crisis. They deserve to have union representatives negotiate wages on their behalf." (…)
    This comes after members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) voted for industrial action due to a lack of progress in public sector pay negotiations. The INMO said its members had overwhelmingly voted in favor of industrial action, including strikes, because “the government must meaningfully provide for acceptable wage increases in any further public sector pay agreement.”…” EnglishArticle by  Jane Moore dated 9/11/2026 on thejournal.ie (machine translated)

2019

• #“No proposal, no invitation: nurses’ strike to go ahead” on February 4, 2019 at the midwife association INMO is the reaction of this association, which has been important in the strike so far, to the Irish government's declaration that there will be no negotiations - then the strike will continue, is the obvious conclusion...

• “Ambulance staff announce three more days of strike action” on February 6, 2019 at The Journal is the news that the National Ambulance Service Representative Association (Nasra) is calling on its members for three more days of strike - although this dispute is also about the recognition of the union, which this part of the psychiatric nurses' union wants to fight for - after several days of strikes had already taken place here since January. Various striking employees have their own specific goals, but everything centers around the confrontation with the government's refusal

• “Doctors go on call outside the Dáil in protest at cuts and staff shortages” by Katie O’Neill and Aoife Moore on February 7, 2019 at The Times is a report (subscription required) about a protest by practicing doctors in front of the Irish Parliament, which is intended to take a stand against the Irish government's austerity policy - spending in the state budget has fallen by over a third in recent years...

• “Mouvement de grève historique chez les infirmiers en Irelande” on February 5, 2019 at Europe Solidaire Documented (originally in a subscription to Courrier International) is an article that primarily emphasizes that this is the largest strike to date in the Irish healthcare system - and that the problem situation is not that different than in the Federal Republic of Germany, for example: Because these nursing professions are poorly paid, the personnel difficulties are growing, which they would also like to let the employees suffer in Ireland...

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