Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Nobody knows better than I the complexity of all of the issues involved in this. It is not just a matter of delayed discharges. The points the Tánaiste has made illustrate the Government's piecemeal approach to the overall difficulties. It is very important to recognise that capacity is critically impacted by the number of nurses available and the current number is nowhere near what is required even to deal with the situation in the here and now.

A key contributor to the shortage of nurses is the excessive delay in the processing of registration applications. Incredibly, the registration process in this jurisdiction can take anything between six and 18 months, whereas on the neighbouring island it takes three to four weeks. While I accept that there can be difficulties in ensuring that all of the necessary documentation is to hand, it is very clear that the combination of the low levels of nursing provision and the delays in the processing of registration applications from nurses coming from overseas is creating what the INMO has described as a perfect storm in our health services. We must respond to this. It is very clear that despite the warnings to the Minister for Health and his Department, the response to this situation has been wholly inadequate. A relatively small additional complement of staff for the Nursing and Midwifery Board is simply an inadequate response at this time.

The Tánaiste made reference to the HSE's so-called "bring them home" campaign.

This campaign is not enticing the necessary numbers of Irish-trained nurses to make the return journey home. That is what the issue comes down to.

I ask the Tánaiste, as leader of her party in the coalition partnership, what she will do to ensure the recruitment package is sufficiently incentivised. We must bear in mind the reasons many young trainee nurses gave for opting to leave Ireland. While money was not the only issue, the cuts of recent years under the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation were most certainly part of the reason they chose not to stay here. It is October and in no time the crisis that has extended from the summer period through last month and into this month will multiply. If we do not act now, we will come into very serious times.

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