Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the atypical working scheme. Recently, I met Migrant Nurses Ireland, which is a support group. There are 20,000 migrant nurses and social care workers here and I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that this is a significant issue for them. Processing has improved in recent weeks but there are still difficulties. I was chasing a huge number of applications during the summer. They go through various stages and if there is any difficulty in the application, it creates massive problems. For instance, if someone has worked in the UAE or the Middle East, they have 90 days to leave their existing job. If the system falls down in some way, they have to leave that country because they are not allowed to stay there if they do not have a job. They do not have to come here to us. We are looking for their skills and for them to come here to help us out in our healthcare system.

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