Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask the Tánaiste about the atypical working scheme. It is an issue I raised before, I wrote to the Minister for Justice last week about it and I got a letter back yesterday saying that there were 350 people waiting to get their applications processed for this scheme. These are medical people on the front line who have jobs waiting for them in Ireland and who cannot get in because of bureaucracy. It is a terrible situation we are in. We have huge pressure in our health services and we have nurses and front-line workers needing to get into these hospitals and yet they wait abroad and cannot come because of this huge delay. Bureaucracy should not be blocking progress on this. Will the Tánaiste intervene in this situation and ensure that these people get into the country and get into our health system as quickly as possible? They are not coming under some pretence. They are coming here because they have jobs waiting for them and we need them in our health services now.

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