A strike by nurses at seven Emergency Departments (EDs) nationwide has been deferred, it has been confirmed.

The strike, which involved members of the Irish Nurse and Midwives Organisation (INMO), was to take place this Thursday at seven hospitals including Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, Mercy University Hospital in Cork and University Hospital Galway, due to serious concerns about overcrowding and staffing.

While measures to alleviate overcrowding in EDs had already been agreed upon before Christmas, in recent weeks, nurses had expressed ‘a complete lack of confidence' in the ability of hospital managers to deliver on these measures.

As a result, following a national meeting of the INMO's ED representatives last week, the organisation said that it was proceeding with strike action on January 14.

However, after 19 hours of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission this weekend, a breakthrough was made and the INMO's Executive Council met on Monday afternoon and decided to defer Thursday's strike action.

Nurses will now be re-balloted to see if they accept these latest proposals aimed at reducing overcrowding. The INMO will recommend that its members accept them.

Responding to the news, the Health Minister, Leo Varadkar, said that he was ‘pleased' that the revised proposals had been accepted by the INMO Executive Council.

"The interests of patients are always best served through negotiation and by avoiding industrial action. I hope that ED nurses will regard the proposals as sufficiently detailed and robust to address their concerns around activation of the escalation policy, health and safety concerns and implementation of the agreement itself," he commented.

He added that he hoped that this would lead to a ‘deeper level of trust' between hospital management and nursing staff.