Nurses and midwives who are members of the INMO have deferred industrial action planned for next Tuesday, March 7.

The INMO said the members of its executive council had unanimously decided to ballot members on expanded proposals from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on the key issues of staffing and recruitment, and to defer action to allow the ballot to take place.

The expanded proposals were made at about 4am today, General secretary of the INMO Liam Doran said.

The council is also recommending to its members that they accept the proposals. It plans to complete the ballot by the end of this month.

In a statement this evening, the INMO added the Lansdowne Road Agreement under which nurses currently work “is incapable of recognising, and responding, to the extent of the difficulties facing the health service at this time”, and that it would approach discussions on the next agreement with a view to solving the staffing crisis.

Minister for Health Simon Harris welcomed the deferral of industrial action, saying: “I welcome the deferral and respect the process the INMO is now undertaking to ballot its members and reiterate my commitment to working to invest in and further improve the Irish health service.”