The executive council of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is meeting on Saturday, amid plans for further strike days.
It is meeting to set further strike dates, in addition to the ones it has already announced.
Industrial action is planned for Tuesday and Thursday next week, and for three days the following week.
The INMO has said it will plan for further action if it does not get Government support.
Members' update: the INMO Executive Council will meet tomorrow (Saturday) to discuss further dates for strikes, beyond the dates already announced: 5th, 7th, 12th, 13th, and 14th.
The government still has not made any serious proposals to avert further strike dates. (1/2)
— Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (@INMO_IRL) February 1, 2019
Some 37,000 nurses and midwives took to the picket lines for 24 hours on Wednesday.
While 25,000 medical appointments were cancelled, the HSE has said it will contact those affected to re-schedule within the next two to three weeks.
INMO members are demanding pay increases and Government action on staff shortages.
The dispute is centred on pay issues and working conditions within Irish hospitals, which unions have warned are causing the recruitment and retention crisis in the health service.
Nurses from the INMO trade union on the picket line outside the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise | Image: RollingNews.ie
Nurses are demanding pay increases of about 12% - and for the Health Service Executive (HSE) to take steps to deal with recruitment and retention issues.
The Government has insisted it will not do a special deal for health workers, and said any pay increase would open the floodgates for other public service unions to seek the same.
Health Minister Simon Harris has said there is no consequence-free way to give nurses a pay rise.
"What I will say to patients is there's a willingness on the side of Government and management to find a resolution.
"But we have to operate within that space of not breaching the Public Service Stability Agreement.
"To do anything else would be grossly irresponsible - there is no consequence-free direct pay rise."
