Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Aird a tharraingt mé an cás na n-altraí inniu. I rise today to highlight the issues around the nursing profession and the difficulties in which it finds itself. There has been an exodus of young nurses from the State in the last number of years as they cannot make ends meet while working at their profession here.

SIPTU members are protesting today outside the annual conference of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland to highlight the refusal by the board to deal with the issue of the increase in the retention fee for members from €100 to €150. This increase comes on top of increases introduced last year. Nurses are concerned because they cannot afford to pay this on top of all the other significant costs they must pay. They have suffered significant financial reductions over the past number of years, including pay cuts, the imposition of levies and the universal social charge, and they say they are not in a position to pay the increased fees to the NMBI.

The broader scenario is that we have a crisis. In the west, we have seen protests by nurses in Galway outside University Hospital Galway regarding their conditions. Positions have been advertised by HSE West for nurses in nursing homes and it is finding it difficult to fill those positions because nurses will not work under the current conditions. We need to face up to this crisis and I would welcome a debate on the future of the nursing profession and midwives here. This would be a useful debate to ensure that we support the nursing fraternity for the future and ensure we have enough people coming into the system who can continue the fantastic job being done in front-line services.