James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Monday's decision by the nursing unions to suspend their strike this week following the intervention of the Labour Court. The court's recommendations are aimed at resolving the dispute over pay and staff retention issues within the nursing profession and make progress on all areas of concern to the nursing unions, including in the key areas of safe staffing levels and addressing recruitment and retention problems.

The proposal states that a range of tangible and specific enhanced nursing practice measures constitutes the basis for a fundamental change in the role of staff nurses. To underpin the new arrangement, a new nursing contract focused on delivering improved outcomes should be finalised within three weeks. The court further recommended that an expert review of the nursing profession should be undertaken in the medium term. There is also agreement by both sides that the resolution to the dispute must be found within the framework of the public service stability agreement.

All sides in the dispute must be given time to consider the recommendations without interference. The members will rightly have the final say in a ballot.

Nurses did not want to be on strike. Nurses from Gorey, Enniscorthy, Wexford and New Ross reluctantly took to the picket lines in my county of Wexford. This was only the second time in their history that they did so. Nurses want to care for their patients and those who are sick.

The stress caused by the strike to the nurses and patients could have been avoided had there been meaningful engagement earlier by the Government. The cancellation of 75,000 appointments could have been avoided. The INMO and the PNA had been warning for some years about the stresses and strains the nursing profession were under and the risk to patient safety as a result of retention and recruitment issues but they were not listened to. Our nurses have many valid concerns aside from recruitment and retention, for example, the overcrowding in hospitals, which are running at 95% to 120% capacity, and the high level of assaults to which nurses are subject.

The nature of the nursing and midwifery professions has changed significantly in the past 20 years, with ever-increasing demands on them. I hope the Government is now beginning to recognise that, is starting to listen to nurses and understanding their needs, is beginning to demonstrate to our nurses that they are valued and respected, and giving them due recognition for their vocation. The suspension of the strike and proposed agreement is welcome but it is now for the nurses themselves to decide.

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