Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last night I talked about the disgrace our health service has become. The INMO and PNA have served notice of industrial action for the weeks ahead. Both unions have been forced into taking such action in the interest of patients and everyone who uses the public health service. Nurses and midwives are the lowest paid graduate professionals in our health services. This is not acceptable. It is no wonder that the health service has difficulty in the recruitment and retention of nurses. The number of staff nurses fell by 6% between 2008 and 2018, but on the other hand, our health services experienced an increase in demand.

Not only does this have an adverse impact on patient care but the cost of agency nurses to the taxpayer is €1.4 million per week, which is a staggering €72.8 million per year. Our health service is haemorrhaging money that is badly needed in the health service to create more respite beds, reduce waiting times, provide new equipment and hire more permanent staff. All these factors would greatly improve the working conditions of nurses and encourage the recruitment of new nurses and the retention of current nurses. At present there is only one applicant for every four nursing and midwifery vacancies in the health service. The Government needs to see the seriousness of this and act quickly to tackle the problem.

I have criticised the Government before for putting its head in the sand and I am afraid it is doing it again. Figures released this week show the number of patients left waiting daily on trolleys in hospitals nationwide has already exceeded the 600 mark. The high trolley figures come just weeks before strikes by nurses. The Government needs to realise if we have a high number of people waiting on trolleys, the number will rise substantially when the nursing strike commences. Our nurses work extremely hard in very poor conditions. In my constituency of west Cork, I have seen first-hand the Trojan work that nurses carry out in nursing homes and community hospitals in Bandon, Kinsale, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Bantry, Dunmanway and Castletownbere. I know from talking to nurses that no one wants to go on strike but in reality our nurses' hands have been tied and they have no option. I support our nurses as they deserve better pay and conditions. The Government asks where we will find the money. In the past number of years politicians have been accepting pay increases and nurses have been forgotten. That is the way with most politicians. I have not but others have. I call on the Government to engage immediately with the INMO and the PNA to resolve the dispute and address the demands of the nurses. They deserve parity in their pay with that of the other healthcare professionals. It is high time the Government listened to the people who elected them to power. The people and nurses of Ireland have a voice which needs to be heard.

See this speech in context