Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the INMO, nurses and midwives to the Visitors Gallery and thank them for being here with us. We cannot run our health service without our nurses - it is a simple fact. Heretofore, the health service has been managing as best it can on the back of a lot of goodwill on the part of our nurses. They work over and beyond the hours they are contracted to work. They come in early, they stay late, they skip their breaks and they do not often take their holidays, despite the Taoiseach saying they are somehow responsible for the trolley crisis because they take a few days off at Christmas time. In fact, they often skip their holidays.

The Minister has allowed the situation to escalate to where it is today. We are facing into potential strike action, although I do not believe the nurses took this decision lightly. It is the second time ever in the history of the State that our nurses will strike, which says it all. They obviously feel as though they have nothing else they can do but take that action. It has taken that to bring the Minister to the table and to have those conversations to try to resolve this issue.

Nursing is a four-year degree course and it should be properly paid for and recognised. The profession has been changing dramatically in the past 15 or 16 years. The very basic comparison with other jurisdictions, such as the UK, does not take into account the working conditions, which are a big factor. Other countries have additional staff who are not nurses but who help nurses to do their job.

Nurses here do far more work on a daily basis than their counterparts in some other jurisdictions. As such, a basic wage comparison is not sufficient. Working conditions for nurses in Ireland are extremely stressful. Any nurse who has worked in the UK, Australia or the USA will tell one that working conditions and pay are better in these countries. We must look not only at the conditions in which nurses work, but at retention. Why are nurses leaving in droves? Why are they choosing to leave their home country to work elsewhere? The use of agency staff is another major issue. The spend on agency staff is breeding great resentment across the health sector and it must be tackled. While I hope sincerely that this matter can be resolved quickly and that strike action can be avoided, I understand and appreciate absolutely why we have got to this point. It is up to the Minister to resolve the issue.

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