Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have brought stability to the country and created jobs. The only way forward is to create jobs. One of the things about young people coming back and seeking jobs, is that we must remember Ireland is a small economy of 4.6 million people. When people go abroad they have a wider choice of jobs and places to go. Ireland now competes on the world market in a whole lot of areas.

In terms of bringing people back home, one of the things that worries me greatly is the way some registration authorities behave. There have been delays in registering people. Young trained nurses wishing to return to Ireland must wait between three to four months to be registered with An Bord Altranais. That situation does not entice people to return home. I know of some people who returned early last December who lodged their applications with the board. They still have not been registered even though they have jobs waiting for them. Likewise, with the young doctors who want to return home. They have experienced huge delays in registering here. I know of two Irish doctors who were educated and trained here that went to New Zealand but were registered there within two weeks. They came back here to work and discovered they were still unregistered after eight weeks.