HUNDREDS OF AMBULANCE personnel will being a 24-hour strike this afternoon over a row in relation to union representation. 

Siptu represents the majority of ambulance personnel but a group of 500 members from the Psychiatric Nurses Association want to be represented by a union of their choice, and are in a dispute with the HSE as a result. 

Until 2010, all personnel were represented by Siptu before a group broke away and established the National Ambulance Representative Association. 

This is the second 24-hour PNA ambulance branch strike throughout the country involving paramedics, advanced paramedics and emergency medical technicians. 

The strike commences at 2pm today and will remain in place until 2pm on Saturday. 

Peter Hughes, general secretary of the PNA, said: “Personnel members demonstrated at their recent protest outside Dáil Eireann, they are not prepared to surrender their right to be members of, and represented by the union of their choice.

“Having campaigned for 18 months for this fundamental right, the resolve and determination of these PNA members is as strong as ever and they are fully supported by the wider PNA membership.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, Siptu ambulance sector representatives said members will be balloted for industrial action, with a risk of strike action, over IT issues with the payroll system.