Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

They are finding it difficult to recruit because they do not train sufficient numbers to meet their needs. In Ireland, we do not train enough to meet our needs. We train more than other countries when we compare but we still do not train enough. When we train nurses and midwives here, we do not do anything to retain them. The Minister announced last year that every graduating nurse will have a permanent contract but, unfortunately, the bureaucracy surrounding that means that England has recruited them before we have even interviewed them. It is a crisis. It is not something we believe is fully taken on board. We attended recently the national economic dialogue. We are very disappointed that health did not feature as one of the discussion points. Health should not be viewed as an area on which money is being spent without any return. Health is under-funded and reform is required but that reform has to be targeted in value for money areas such as those that nursing can bring to a service.

Advanced nurse practitioners have been the real benefit in emergency departments, EDs. Where advanced nurse practitioners are working we see numbers decrease. We are supposed to have a 7% ratio of our total nursing workforce at advanced practice level. That would require 700 advanced nurse practitioners. Currently, we have fewer than 300. This year, the HSE is saying it will try to fund 30. It is simply not enough.