Trade union Siptu has denied that lives will be put at risk because of its 24-hour ambulance strike.

It comes as the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine warned that the strike by 2,000 workers at the National Ambulance Service, which began at 8am, poses “a significant risk” to lives.

Pickets have been placed at ambulance bases around the country as part of the action by crews who are members of Siptu and Unite and are engaged in a dispute over pay.

Siptu health division organiser Ciarán Sheridan called on the Minister for Health and the Health Service Executive to “come to the table” for talks.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast he said, “The Minister for Health and the HSE need to intervene”. Sheridan said his members were disappointedthey had to take such action, but they were “absolutely resolute in ensuring that the additional responsibilities and roles they’ve taken on, in the interest of enhanced patient care, will be recognised”.

Despite the strike, emergency cover is still in place and patients in need of urgent medical assistance can still contact 999 or 112.

Sheridan said although some of their members were on the picket line, others were providing emergency care for the most “time-critical, high-acuity calls, as in the cardiac arrest, the respiratory arrest, the strokes, etc. And that is being triaged through the control centre based in Tallaght and Ballyshannon”.

“Critical services are being provided,” he said.

The HSE’s clinical lead for emergency medicine, Dr Rosa McNamara, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that emergency departments were open and urged people who need to attend and can make their own way to do so.

However, if anyone felt they needed an ambulance, they should call 999 – which will be fully staffed, she added.

However, she acknowledged the “reality” of the strike was the number of ambulances was severely curtailed, with 46 per cent staffing, which meant ambulances would have to travel long distances

Sheridan said his members had been left with no choice but to strike and that they were disappointed the Minister for Health and the HSE did not intervene.

Sheridan said the ball was now in the Department of Health and the HSE’s court.

Speaking to reporters in advance of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin appealed for dialogue in the dispute.

“It’s vital that such a critical service is provided to the public so therefore I think dialogue is the only way and the only mechanism to resolve this dispute.

“I would appeal for people to engage.”

He said it was not “satisfactory for patients or for people generally that a first-responder service should be mired in industrial action at this time. That’s my own view”.

Earlier, Prof Conor Deasy of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine told Newstalk Breakfast the dispute needed to be resolved “very quickly”.

“It should never have gotten to this point. It’s dangerous for patients. There’s no question.”

When asked if the strike posed a risk to life, Deasy replied: “I think there is a significant risk. There is no way of dressing this up.”

In a statement on Tuesday morning, the Irish Patients Association said while it “recognises the immense pressure ambulance personnel are working under . . . the association believes the situation has moved beyond a routine industrial relations dispute and into an area of legitimate patient-safety concern”.

“Patients must not be used as pawns by any party in an industrial dispute,” it said.

The long-running dispute involving about 2,000 members of Siptu and Unite is over grading and pay related to a programme of modernisation within the service.

It was the subject of a report in 2020. Two sets of proposals brokered by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) were rejected by staff last year when more than 70 per cent of those who participated in the ballot voted against.

The HSE said the proposals included provision for pay increases of between 3 and 14 per cent, in addition to those due under national public sector pay deals.

The unions, however, said the action was tied to future changes in work practices, when changes already in place had not been adequately addressed.

The HSE has called for a return to talks under the auspices of the WRC or Labour Court. However, John McCamley, Siptu sector organiser, said there was a precondition that they would discuss future changes.

“We’re not averse to that but we need the historic issues to be dealt with first.”

The strike is running from 8am today to 8am on Wednesday, and if the dispute is not resolved, a 48-hour strike is scheduled to start next Tuesday, with a 72-hour one the week after that.