Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that in many cases, and certainly in nursing, as many nurses are leaving as are being recruited. I had a long conversation with Phil Ní Sheaghdha of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, last week who pointed out that in 2016 the State recruited 2,573 nurses but 2,271 left in the same period. The net recruitment for the health service where there is a dire capacity problem and we need thousands more nurses, is a tiny few more. She pointed out that in 2008 someone at point 1 on the staff nurse scale got €31,875 a year. Today, almost ten years later, that person gets €28,768, almost €3,000 less when accommodation costs have gone through the roof. Someone at point 5 earned €38,000 in 2008 but today earns €34,000. Is it any wonder we cannot recruit the nurses - I have not even begun to discuss the teachers – if their wages are less than they were ten years ago and the cost of living has gone through the roof?

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