 The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation took industrial action with the first of a series of 24-hour work stoppages in an effort to secure pay parity. If they address pay, if they address the restoration and the parity that we're asking for, that is the centre point to getting staffing levels to change in a realistic manner. If staffing levels change in a realistic manner, then all of the issues around safety and patient care and waiting times and underutilised facilities are going to change drastically. Nurses on the picket lines of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin explained why the nationwide strike was happening. Our young nurses are on such low pay as well now, how can anyone bring up children and family and that as well? The salaries are so bad, nobody can buy a house or anything anymore or live a comfortable, not even a comfortable life, but without struggling so much. Our graduates are not on a par with other health professionals, like if you have a midwife who's on a four year degree, then done a master's programme and she is competing with the dieticians physios. She's not on any same income level as them and why is there an authority of income for people who put in the same and who have such an important role in life as we do? All workers and teachers stand together, this group of workers are taking on a government on the basis of defending the public service, on the basis of looking for a decent pay to do the job they do every day. And as fellow trade unions we're extending a hand of support and solidarity and saying that it's really really important that we all stand together. If in the future we're taking industrial action we will look for support from other unions so we extend our hand of solidarity to them today. The Labour Court stated they would not intervene over the dispute by the INMO over pay parity. This is the second time in a hundred years that the INMO have gone on strike. I'm Cautch Caden with DCU TV News.