Kitty Holland
The decision to allow the spouses of non-EU nurses to come and work here will not solve the nursing shortage crisis, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) has warned.
While joining the Irish Association of Directors of Nursing and Midwifery (IADNM) in welcoming the announcement from the Department of Trade and Employment, the INO said there were several outstanding issues for the Government if it wanted to keep people in the nursing and midwifery professions.
A spokesman for the Department said the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, would bring detailed proposals to Government "in coming weeks" on the changes to rules for spouses of non-EU nurses. The changes would be implemented "shortly after" and nurses already working here would be able to avail of them, he said.
The IADMN said the change "should prove a great help in the recruitment and retention of nurses".
A spokesperson added: "As well as being a pragmatic decision that will ease nursing shortages, it will help the families of these highly-valued staff to stay together and ease the traumatic transition to the very different culture that exists in Ireland."
The INO, which had been seeking this change for the past two years, said it would help keep thousands of non-EU nurses in the Irish health service.
It had predicted that up to 500 Filipino nurses would leave Ireland over the next three years to take up jobs in the US and Britain, where spouses are allowed to join them and work.
The highest number of nurses coming from outside the EU have arrived from the Philippines with more coming from South Africa and other parts of Africa. There are an estimated 5,000 Filipino nurses here.
The INO's general secretary, Mr Liam Doran, said, however, the change was just a short-term solution. The long-term solution was to was to educate and retain Irish nurses and midwives.
He called for the introduction of a Dublin weighting allowance; the abolition of the first three points of the staff nurse scale; the introduction of tax-based initiatives for nurses and midwives working in Dublin; the payment of a loyalty bonus to nurses who remain working in Dublin; and paid sabbaticals every five years for nurses working in parts of Limerick, Cork and Dublin, where recruitment is a problem.