Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I agree with that and with Deputy Barry's sentiments on how crucial migrant nurses are not only to our hospital system but also to our care system, more broadly speaking. Before I read my answer, which is important, I want to say I heard the media report this morning and it stopped me in my tracks. The small clip I heard was shocking, and I have since read the article. It is important that I read in this formal answer, and I genuinely thank Deputy Barry for raising the issue today.

The HSE CEO and the Minister for Health have both been very clear that no employee of the public health service should ever have to endure racism while carrying out their duties. It is intolerable and completely unacceptable. Everybody is welcome in the health service in Ireland, regardless of race, creed or ethnicity. More than two in every five doctors and nurses employed in the HSE were not trained in Ireland. Without these employees, essential healthcare could not be provided to our most vulnerable citizens, and Government wishes to thank them for all they do for patients and their families.

The HSE is committed to fostering an organisational culture where every employee is valued and celebrated, where employees are treated with dignity and respect, and where discrimination in any form is not tolerated. The HSE has a diversity, equality and inclusion policy in place which reflects the protections provided to its employees on the grounds of ethnicity, race and culture in line with equality legislation. The HSE is committed by that legislation to taking proactive steps to eliminate the potential for discrimination from its day-to-day operations, and training is mandatory for staff in respect of this policy.

Racist behaviour in the workplace is illegal under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015, and is explicitly proscribed by the HSE’s dignity at work policy. That policy puts an onus on health service employees and managers to create an environment in which staff are treated with dignity and respect. The policy also sets out informal and formal procedures to deal with complaints. Health service managers have a key role in communicating the policy to all staff, ensuring they understand its contents. A number of national training programmes are available to support the policy, and racist behaviour is specifically addressed in the HSE’s three e-learning modules on diversity, equality and inclusion at work, which are available to all staff online.

The HSE is working with partners such as the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland to strengthen supports for staff coming from outside Ireland to ensure a soft landing, an effective orientation and induction, and to enhance local supports available to staff, particularly in the first weeks of their employment in the HSE.

With regard to the article that the Deputy is referencing, Cork University Hospital has confirmed to the Department of Health that an independent external investigation is under way into a series of allegations. I understand that HSE management at Cork University Hospital are treating the allegations very seriously. In these circumstances, it would be inappropriate to comment any further on the details of this investigation while it is ongoing.

I would like to finish my first contribution by thanking the nurses for coming forward with their story. I ask any worker in any sector of the economy who faces situations like this, where their position is exploited and where they are victims of very clear racial abuse, to please come forward and report it, and look at the procedures that are within their organisation as well. I fear this is not the only situation where occurrences like this are happening. Well done to the nurses for coming forward and telling their story.

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