A 24-hour strike involving around 10,000 health support staff is to go ahead on Thursday, SIPTU has confirmed.

According to the trade union's health division organiser, Paul Bell, the strike is ‘likely to have serious consequences for the delivery of patient services'.

The staff involved carry out a range of support services including transporting patients around hospitals and administration.

Talks aimed at resolving the pay dispute took place at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Monday night, however they ended without agreement. SIPTU insists that its members are due a pay rise as part of a job evaluation scheme.

"The health employers accepted the recommendations of the job evaluation scheme in 2017, which set out which staff members should be upgraded and remunerated accordingly."

"SIPTU members will find it extremely difficult to accept another national agreement such as the Public Service Stability Agreement unless this current agreement is honoured in full," Mr Bell commented.

The HSE has begun contingency preparations ahead of the strike, which will affect almost 40 hospitals and other health facilities nationwide.