Govt urged to give residency rights to foreign nurses
The Irish Association of Nursing and Midwifery has called on the Government to give non-EU hospital staff the right to residency in Ireland.
The association said it believed the measure would further ease the shortage of nurses in Irish hospitals.
The Tánaiste Mary Harney recently announced plans to allow the spouses of non-EU nurses to seek work in Ireland.
The measure was designed to tackle the problem of Filipino nurses leaving Ireland because their spouses were being denied work permits.
Geraldine Regan, spokesperson for the IANM, said: “It’s important that we also look at the issue of residency for nurses who are here a long time and who have brought their families to Ireland and who have their children in schools in Ireland and who are making an enormous contribution to the Irish healthcare services.”
