Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that useful and helpful response.

What can I say about the Army Nursing Service? It is a fantastic component of the Defence Forces, but I assume the Minister agrees that it is in decline. In its heyday a number of decades ago, there were approximately 100 nurses. Now, there are only three or four. That is a major pity because, over the past 15 months during the pandemic, nurses would have been useful both within the Defence Forces and in dealing with the public, including from a nursing homeless perspective.

The majority of the nurses employed by the Defence Forces are agency nurses, which are expensive. In one barracks, an agency nurse has been re-employed on a 24-hour basis every day since 2012, which is a suboptimal situation from her perspective as well as the organisation's perspective.

I would be grateful if the Minister could expedite the nursing review. Let us get decisions made and nurses back into the Defence Forces where they belong.

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