Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy does a real disservice to the thousands of women and men who man our hospitals and primary care centres and provide an absolutely state-of-the-art, excellent service, day in, day out, on a 24-7 basis. Our young nurses are the bedrock of our delivery of services and they work their socks off, which is why the Government has worked so hard to provide a pay agreement for the next couple of years to recognise the concerns they have raised over the past number of years. That is why the ballots will be taking place in the next couple of weeks. I wish everybody well. I do not accept that people are leaving in their droves.

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