Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is fair to say the Labour Court recommendation is that.

To answer Deputy Coppinger's final question, and I have said this before, there are many countries that pay less than Ireland does to its nurses and midwives, including most of Europe and most of the United Kingdom. There are many countries that pay more than we do, including Canada, Australia and countries in the Middle East. All those countries struggle to recruit nurses and midwives. This is not simply a matter of pay. There is an international shortage of nurses and midwives so I do not think that pay parity or pay rises, or even matching pay rates that we could never possibly match such as those available in the Middle East, will solve this problem.

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