Pádraig O'Sullivan
Cork North-Central · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“Imagine being the father of two boys who have Friedreich's ataxia and one of them passing away. I know the Tánaiste is familiar with the case of Craig Coady. I normally do not personalise stories in here but he spoke about this quite openly on Red FM in Cork on Tuesday.”
“I am not asking anybody to comment on the process itself as I know we have to respect it, but is it possible that the review committee can be brought forward and convened as quickly as possible to see this through one way or another because of the mental trauma, anguish and emotion? Many people travelled up on Tuesday.”
“I do not expect the Minister to intervene or comment on that specific case, and we have to respect the process, but I am sure the Minister will agree that as part of a wider strategy, we need to inculcate that wider ecosystem where patients get access to this care upfront and early access to drugs, where needed.”
“Last week, I was at a conference with the Minister and the EU Commissioner. We discussed various topics, including healthcare and the development of a life science strategy in Ireland. I know it is something that he and the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, have worked intensively on.”
“It was remiss of me not to welcome members of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. I am struggling to see through the glare of the glass. I can see a Limerick man, Kevin Quaid, up there. It is not too often that a Cork man would welcome a Limerick man but I welcome Kevin. I can also see Siobhán. I think Andy Heffernan was there as well.”
“I have asked many parliamentary questions on this over the past few years. Very little has changed. The only thing that gives me hope is that the company has since met the CPU and submitted a commercial offer that remains under consideration. I am not asking for special treatment for any drug.”
The complete record
Every one of 485 lines we hold for Pádraig O'Sullivan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 10.
“It is high time we were straight with people in Glanmire and set out a timeline for when this project is likely to be delivered.”
“I understand the significant difficulties in the Department of education and the overspend. They are glaringly obvious for all of us. That said, big projects like this need to be delivered. When I attended Coláiste an Phiarsaigh as a student, half the school campus was in prefabs, and some of those very same prefabs are still there today. The Minister of States knows the way this can go. There has been some improvement with other updated modular units over the past few years but the reason they are getting this big project is that half the school footprint is, in essence, modular. This will replace it with bricks and mortar. This is something that has been long awaited. I genuinely hope that there is something the Minister of State will tell me which will illuminate things for me, although I will be dubious about it.”
“Glenmire is one of the fastest growing suburbs in Cork. The demand for Irish-medium education is only going in one direction. The students currently in first year will be sitting their leaving certificate before too long. They should not spend their entire secondary education waiting for a building they were told was imminent. I am asking for the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, to set out plainly the current stage of this project, when it is anticipated it will go to construction and when the doors of the new school will open. I have been involved with this school building project over the past five years. We have had senior Ministers visit, as well as the Taoiseach, cutting ribbons and launching plans. The expectation is quite high that this will be delivered in a timely manner.”
“From that beginning, it has grown into one of the most successful Irish-medium schools in the country, with nearly 600 students and more than 60 staff. It consistently ranks as one of the best in terms of its academic achievement. The new building promised for this school is not a modest one. As I said, it is a fairly large extension. It would make Coláiste an Phiarsaigh the largest Gaelscoil in Ireland, with a new sports hall, indoor running track and wellness suite. The students in the school, through the students' council, advocated for it to have a carbon-neutral design, with has been built into the design of the school. In September 2023, the school community was told that construction would begin within 18 months. That timeline has now passed and families in Glenmire deserve to know why and what the revised position is.”
“I raise the new school building for Coláiste an Phiarsaigh. To be clear, I taught there once upon a time. I was also a former student there for six years, so I have a vested interest in this relatively big school building programme. I am asking for a clear update. It seems to be stuck at the 2b lottery stage, which I know is frustrating for many TDs. A lot of these building projects are frequently stuck in this phase 2b. This is just another example. This school has a remarkable story. It opened in 1973 with only 20 students and six teachers. It had no building. Classes were held in a rented Church of Ireland premises in the village of Glenmire. They had, in the words of those who were there, neither "cailc nó clár dubh", no chalk or blackboard.”
“If we are facilitating these large corporations being here, the least we can do is get early access to a reasonably priced drug. If we do not listen to the health argument on this issue, which we have not done for over a decade now, I would make the argument that the jobs the Minister referred to are contingent on us keeping up with innovation. Unfortunately, we have an archaic system that has not changed and kept pace with that innovation. I ask the Minister to press home the issue with the Minister for Health to make sure we get an early access scheme as quickly as possible.”
“I commend the Minister as she was central to this drug being approved. She met with families, treated them with dignity and gave them hope, and I commend her on that. However, it feels like groundhog day because I know that in three, six or nine months' time, another cohort of patients will be looking for another miracle drug. I have seen children regain their mobility from taking some of these drugs. That is what they do. The innovation the Minister referred to is phenomenal. Every year, corporation tax collected from pharmaceutical companies amounts to between €7 billion and €10 billion. Even more phenomenal is that we cannot get a good price from these pharmaceutical companies. We cannot get these drugs at a quick pace, which we should.”
“I am hearing about bits and pieces going on but when I talk to clinicians and consultants, they tell me nothing is happening. The Government is a year and a half into its term. The Minister knows as well as I do that anything involving a review or report will take God knows how long. It could take a year, two years or three years, if we are lucky. I ask the Minister to urgently speak with the Minister for Health to ensure those two commitments in the programme for Government are honoured and prioritised with immediate effect.”
“They are reimbursing drugs at twice and three time the rates we are reimbursing them. We are consistently laggards in the league table when it comes to reimbursement of these drugs. I commend Senator Costello and the families on their campaign over the past few months. It came to fruition this week and they have achieved the result they want. However, there must be dozens of families at home looking on enviously while they wait for the drug they need to be assessed for reimbursement. It is a cruel and horrible situation for any family to be in. It is inhumane. I am asking for follow-through on the two commitments on this issue in the programme for Government. One relates to the early access scheme and the other is for a review of the reimbursement process as a whole. To my knowledge, action has not commenced on either recommendation.”
“I understand that matter is at a sensitive stage of negotiations with the HSE and I do not expect the Minister to comment on it. On the overall picture, the Minister made an important point in his interaction with Deputy Paul Murphy. The Minister is a father and, like me, he understands how difficult it is for parents of children who are ill. No child should have to wait for healthcare but we consistently have a system in this country under which children are waiting. On average, children in Ireland wait 800 days for rare disease drugs. That is in contrast with the situation in other EU and EEA countries. I am not talking about the big countries with the big economies and the big patient cohorts. I am talking about smaller countries, some of them with smaller economies than our own, like Iceland, Luxembourg and Denmark.”
“I again raise the issue of rare diseases, which I have raised consistently in the House for the past five years. I have spent the past hour and a half with Senator Costello, who was meeting with parents whose children suffer from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. They received the good news this week that the treatment drug is on its way to the HSE management team for consideration, having been positively recommended for reimbursement. It is a great relief for the families but the victory is bittersweet because they know that every week they lost waiting for the drug over recent years has led to a deterioration in their children's condition. Those parents are not alone in their story. There is a campaign currently under way by parents whose children primarily suffer from Friedreich's ataxia and who urgently require the drug Skyclarys.”
“There are sports clubs the length and breadth of the country crying out for substantial money like what has been allocated under the fund. The money for a certain project in Cork, which I will not mention here but with which the Minister is familiar, has been sitting there for six years, undrawn. Other potential suitors were interested in availing of it. A particular organisation has sat on it and withheld it from going towards a very positive project. The gun needs to be put to some of these organisations’ heads and they need to get on with the works.”
“The Minister of State says this will not be on the never-never but the reality, as he said, is that nine projects have not commenced since 2018. There are more that have been allocated funding in a subsequent round. Deadlines need to be imposed. It gives me no satisfaction to say here that this is State money and that if State money were allocated for projects in any other field, we would be asking about it. We want accountability and transparency. We want projects delivered, let us be truthful. If the initial projects envisaged, or scaled-back versions, if required, could be completed, it should be explored. If those concerned are having difficulties with fundraising or whatever, it is a matter of helping them to bridge the gaps. Ultimately, however, we need projects completed.”
“I understand the difficulties and the amount they have to raise. It is onerous to draw down from the fund but, at the same time, we need the moneys drawn down. I am a massive supporter of the good the funding does. I would like to see allocations become more frequent but it is hard to argue for that when a fairly high proportion of clubs have still not commenced projects or drawn down the money.”
“It will not come as a surprise to the Minister of State that I have asked this question before at committee meetings. To be fair, he knows my form on this. I do not begrudge anybody getting money they have applied for, or any of the sports bodies that have applied on behalf of clubs, mainly national clubs but what irks me is that, as he said, nine projects from 2018 have still not commenced. We just need to take the bull by the horns at some stage and have a realistic conversation with some of those organisations to say that, if they are not drawing down the money, it is going to be reallocated for another worthy project. I say this not out of a desire to take the money from any applicant. The reality is that some organisations have been sitting on the money for the best part of eight years, as the Minister of State said.”
“I ask the Minister for an update on the LSSIF, including detail about each project. Maybe the Minister of State can give me that afterwards. I do not expect him to list them all. I also ask for the amount that has been drawn down and the amount that has yet to be drawn down.”
“I refer to an article in The Irish Times from two days ago which stated that the association’s board continues to meet to discuss the operational aspects of hosting the home fixture but that there are ongoing discussions. That is fine. It is still discussing potentially hosting the game here albeit as the Minister of State has referenced, it is very likely that the game will be held elsewhere if it is held at all. If the FAI is having meetings to discuss operational aspects of hosting it still, has the Minister of State had any briefing from the FAI, An Garda Síochána or Dublin City Council about the risks, what it would cost, the additional security and any of that type of detail in relation to upcoming fixture?”
“I wish to ask specifically about the operational side of things in preparation for potentially playing this match in Dublin. What level of engagement has the FAI had with relevant agencies, including Dublin City Council and An Garda Síochána over the past number of weeks in anticipation of this match? Are there any security concerns if the match were to be hosted here? What risks have been highlighted? What steps are being taken to mitigate those risks if the match were to be held? I will not get into a debate with the Minister of State about the merits of playing the match; we had a vote on that last night. However, I am interested in the preparations that have been made if the game were to be played here. We need to understand any risks highlighted by An Garda Síochána and Dublin City Council.”
“My question is fairly straightforward. We understand the pressures that disability services are under right across the country. They are more acutely felt in certain regions and there are black spots around the country that have been well-documented in many of our clinics. There is a particularly acute problem with therapies in Cork, as the Taoiseach is well aware. A post for disability clinical lead for the country was advertised a number of months ago. My understanding is a number of people were interviewed, but the post was not filled. They were not deemed to be satisfactory, which is fine, but this post has been left unfilled for a number of month. When will that post be readvertised? It needs to be filled urgently.”
“However, it is important that we distinguish between people with physical disabilities and intellectual disabilities in counting those numbers.”
“There are two matters I will mention that I would like the Minister of State to take back to the Minister, the first of which is decongregation. I understand why we did it, but if you talk to the parents who have children with intellectual disabilities, including adult children, they will say that they want a setting where they feel their daughters or sons can be safe. Some of them want to live in a gated community, and some want to be surrounded by the elderly. Locking these people away in apartment blocks is not the right way, just for the sake of decongregation. We need to have a proper debate about this. Cork city and county councils have delivered their targets of 20% for people with disabilities.”
“Did no one in the various Departments not realise there was a problem, given the nearly 100% increase in the demand for residential places? I do not even have time to discuss respite support. It is welcome that the Ministers are getting together and that a plan is going to be in place, but it takes time to build these houses and deliver these units. If the plan started this year, it would be a couple of years before we saw those units being turned over. The budget allocation will provide for nearly 200 places, but in 2023, only 43 new residential places were provided in the entire country. It was a pitiful amount. What these people are asking for is their right, as they all have a right to housing. Some of them are well capable of living independently. Some require round-the-clock care. It is that diverse a cohort.”
“I thank the Minister and welcome the initiatives. I spoke to the Ministers, Deputies Foley and Browne, in recent weeks and I knew that a plan was coming together. However, as many Deputies will know, I am a cynic in here. I do not understand how we are having this discussion in 2026 and how no one in the various Departments, but particularly the Department of disabilities, had a light bulb go off at some stage and realise that the Departments were not meeting the level of need. As the Minister of State read out from the speech she was given, there is an unmet need. We all know it. I will give the Minister of State an idea of the numbers. In June 2025, 1,389 people were awaiting residential placement. That was up from 776 in 2019, a 79% increase in five or six years.”
“We cannot forget that the section 38 and section 39 service providers have an obligation. Many have the capacity of housing bodies and can themselves deliver housing. We cannot let them shirk their responsibility. What is the Department’s view on the Before We Die campaign? What interaction is it having with the campaign? What does it intend to do to solve this residential crisis?”
“This is normally done to address an emergency or crisis situation. We have done no forward planning in the last five or six years. The most recent figures made available to us show that 43 residential places were provided nationally in 2023. The waiting list speaks for itself. There are thousands of people in this situation and we are doing nothing to address it. Since I became involved with the Before We Die campaign in Cork, we have been able to arrange a number of meetings with Cork City Council and Cork County Council and we are doing things locally that are going to help improve people’s lives. The councils have each agreed to appoint a liaison officer to deal with families in these situations. Hopefully, the councils are now going to streamline the application process for social housing for these families.”
“There are 1,500 adults in this country with intellectual disabilities who are living with carers who are aged 70 or older. Of those, 500 or so are living with carers aged 80 or over. I am sure that the Minister of State and Deputy Ó Fearghaíl hear of people in their constituencies needing emergency care and intervention. A case came to me not so long ago where someone living in Cork was offered emergency residential care in Meath. That is what we are doing to these people, sending them hundreds of kilometres away from their families. Many of these parents do not want to make the decision to let their adult children leave them, but because of their ages, they just cannot cope any more. Unfortunately, the State offers the solution - the section 38 organisations in Cork offer it – of going hundreds of kilometres away from home.”
“That is true on paper, with over €3 billion now being spent on disability services annually and €2.2 billion of that for residential services, but if you talk to the 350 or so people who were in the Silver Springs hotel this day last week with myself and Deputy Séamus McGrath, you will hear of very little residential support and virtually no respite support. Cork has always been a bit of a black spot in terms of lacking disability services. That was no more evident than when residential support was discussed that night. Three hundred and fifty people packed that room. Some of the people had intellectual disabilities themselves, but many were parents, particularly mothers. The Before We Die campaign has done its own research.”
“I want to talk to the Minister of State about the Before We Die campaign, a grassroots, family-led campaign across the country. It deals with an issue that we in this country have neglected for too long, that being, not finding appropriate residential places for people with intellectual disabilities. Unfortunately, it took a number of parents in Cork to raise this matter, albeit the main instigator, Tony Murray, was based in Dublin. He started this campaign a number of years ago. I pay tribute to Sinéad, Janet, Linda and Esther, who are central to the Cork campaign. I do not understand how we have got into this position. Frequently, the House is told that we have massive budget increases for various aspects of disability services.”
“On that programme, Professor Michael Barry indicated that the reason pharmaceutical companies do not want to come here to reimburse drugs is because they do not make enough money. That might be true in some cases, but it belies the fact that the majority of them do not come here because it is too much hassle to go through a health technology assessment. The review I am asking for would at least review that process and, hopefully, streamline it so we can get more effective and efficient decisions in future.”
“I am not sure if the Taoiseach saw the "Prime Time" special recently in relation to rare diseases and patients' inability to access much-needed drugs. I know the Taoiseach is very familiar with the topic as he previously served as the Minister for Health. I want to bring up this issue again because we have given a commitment in the programme for Government that we will reform the reimbursement process. We really need to start that body of work now. If the Taoiseach had watched the programme, he would have seen Emily Felix and other people with Friedreich’s ataxia. Craig Coady from Cork, whose child suffers from the same condition, has lost a child already and his wife is seriously ill.”
“I do not expect the Minister of State to have the answer here, but that clarity would be sought, especially in a climate where we are extending the number of patients eligible for medical cards with every budget. The system is already under considerable pressure. If it is truly a case-by-case assessment that is allowable, I would ask that it be teased out to its fullest.”
“The various studies I have looked at in relation to this show that, cognitively, in terms of practice and so on, once people reach the age of 65, there is a reduced adaptability. Tests have proven and evidence suggests that older doctors may be less likely to adapt to new clinical standards, and I get that. Definitely in the case of this doctor at 72, it is not a case of not being able to teach an old dog new tricks. This guy is well renowned, quite able and ready to adapt. What he is asking for is fair play. Referring back to the Minister of State's answer, if it does require some kind of assessment to get him back into that bracket of his case being considered necessary and appropriate, I would like to tease that out.”
“Like all good answers, maybe the door is slightly ajar there in the reply, "The HSE can grant an extension on a case-by-case basis, where considered necessary and appropriate, to allow a GP to continue to see their GMS patients after reaching 72 years." That begs the question as to what is deemed necessary and appropriate. I do not expect the Minister of State to have an answer to that given he is not in the Department of Health. Perhaps somebody could provide clarity on what is considered necessary and appropriate. Is it a cognitive assessment or some kind of medical assessment? I am not sure. Maybe clarity could be sought from the Department afterwards. I get why we have a cut-off in age.”
“There are two main things I would to point out. First, we are not confident that we can actually source alternative GP cover for those patients affected. Second, this man is still at the top of his game albeit he might be 72 years of age. As is outlined in the letter I received, he is well got in the community, well renowned, and I think his service would be lost to those medical card patients if this service were to be withdrawn from them.”
“What the constituent is asking for here tonight is engagement "with the HSE, the Irish Medical Council, and indemnity insurance providers to explore immediate interim solutions that would allow this doctor to continue accepting medical card patients without undue personal or professional risk". We are also asking that a further review would be commissioned "of how current insurance and regulatory frameworks may be inadvertently excluding experienced GPs from public health participation". We are also asking to publicly "acknowledge the invaluable contribution of long-serving GPs and commit to policy that supports, rather than sidelines, their continued service to communities that rely on them". That is the correspondence I received from a constituent. It is happening in an area where we are already overstretched with GP services.”
“Being told to find a new doctor - often in a climate where GP lists are closed and waiting times are lengthy - is not a minor inconvenience. For some, it represents a genuine health risk. [...] The loss of Medical Card access through this doctor does not simply affect individual patients - it damages the social fabric of ... [the community involved]. A trusted local GP is more than a medical professional; he is a cornerstone of community health and wellbeing. His absence from the Medical Card system will place increased pressure on already overburdened emergency departments, out-of-hours services, and neighbouring practices, many of which are themselves at capacity.”
“That depth of continuity of care is not merely a comfort; it is medically significant, reducing misdiagnoses, unnecessary referrals, and costly emergency interventions. What we are saying here tonight is that the system is essentially punishing this man's patients: Medical Card holders are, by definition, among the most economically vulnerable members of our society. They depend on access to free GP care as a lifeline. When a trusted, long-established doctor is forced out of their reach by an insurance policy that discriminates on the basis of age - not competence, not patient complaints, not clinical record - the consequences fall hardest on those least able to absorb them. Many of these patients are elderly themselves, or suffer from chronic conditions that require ongoing, familiar care.”
“He is a physician of extraordinary dedication and record: At 72 years of age, this doctor brings with him a wealth of knowledge, clinical expertise, and human understanding that cannot be taught in a lecture hall or replicated overnight. He has served not just individuals, but entire families across multiple generations - delivering care with consistency, compassion, and a personal touch that has become increasingly rare in an overstretched modern health system. [...] His record speaks for itself - decades of service marked by trust, clinical excellence, and an unbroken commitment to those most vulnerable in our society. He knows his patients by name, by history, by circumstance.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in and taking the Topical Issue. As I mentioned to him a while ago, I might start by reading a letter I received from a constituent, who is a patient of one of the GPs affected by the issue I am highlighting this evening. He is a deeply respected GP: who has dedicated over four decades of his life to serving the people of ... [his] community ... [and he is now being] compelled, against his own wishes, to cease accepting Medical Card holders. The reason is not a lack of compassion, nor a change in his values - it is solely due to age-based restrictions imposed by indemnity insurance providers, which effectively penalise experienced doctors for the very attribute that makes them invaluable: their years of service.”
“That is part of what we have to do. That is part of the success story to keep fuelling this. I was listening to a previous question in relation to the number of people coming in from abroad undertaking courses here and so on. There is a balance there. Nobody is saying we do not need foreign people to come in and study here, of course we do, but there is a balance there that we need to strive for. This particular company would put a spotlight on some of the difficulties that are coming down the pipeline.”
“If the Minister asks, he will receive my local knowledge. I visited a company recently. I will not name the company, but I would love for the Minister to visit it at some stage - maybe not this Thursday because I know his schedule is full, but perhaps at another stage when he is in Cork. This company employs 65,000 people internationally, 500 of whom are in Cork and based in the city centre. The vast majority of them are PhD graduates. I recently attended there in late January. A total of 80% of their workforce have had to be brought in from abroad because they cannot satisfy what is required here in Ireland. That then has knock-on effects for housing and renting. These people are in high-paid jobs but struggle to even get a rental. We genuinely need to put the money in domestically, as well as bringing in international expertise.”
“There have been recent job announcements by Eli Lilly, Regeneron and AbbVie. The demand is quite clear. The question is whether our STEM pipeline can keep up. Fundamentally, the Minister's stat data here is saying that while we have the highest proportion of graduates, we are going to come under increasing pressure in the coming years.”
“I will take from the Minister's response that he is satisfied or somewhat satisfied that enough courses are being filled and enough graduates are coming through the pipeline. The Minister knows the importance of Cork. He outlined it himself. According to the Irish Examiner , we are home to seven of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world. Approximately 14,000 people are employed across Cork in those pharmaceutical companies. We are a hub for the global life sciences. Maintaining that position is imperative for us in Cork. The most important thing that can help us to maintain that competitive edge is our people. As the Minister has said, UCC and MTU do phenomenal work. He mentioned the Tyndall National Institute. We are a hub of innovation. We are looking to grow the 14,000 jobs to 21,000 jobs by 2027.”
“We know the value of the programme in terms of the student experience. People pick up linguistic skills and become more rounded students. It is proven academically that students who engage fare better in terms of their academic life and their job prospects afterwards. There is no denying how important the scheme is. I believe it was worth €14 million to the Irish economy in 2016 with 25,000 students coming here as well as their families who might visit them. In 2025 we received 44,500 students showing how it has grown exponentially. I ask the Minister to fight for every penny he can to increase that budget because there are concerns that proportionately, students in the scheme will not fare as well. I ask the Minister to emphasise that in his negotiations.”
“I realise that next year will be the 40th anniversary of the Erasmus programme and it has gone from strength to strength. Like the Minister, I know dozens of students who have availed of it over the years. I believe Ireland has sent more than 65,000 students since the programme's inception. It is a programme that we all support and would like to see go from strength to strength. The funding for the programme has increased to €40 billion now, which is far greater than its predecessor of €26 billion. However, because of the further reach to people not doing academic courses as the Minister has outlined, from what I am reading from the European Parliament debates on it, there is a concern that proportionately, the money going to each individual student might actually decrease. I ask the Minister to speak to that.”
“I am asking this for Deputy Cathal Crowe. Will the Minister for higher education outline his priorities in relation to Erasmus+ in the current negotiations for the EU’s multi-annual financial framework from 2028 to 2034?”
“We want the experienced nurses who have given years of service to feel their dedication is truly seen and truly valued. Ireland is blessed with nurses who are second to none. We should make sure Ireland is a country that is second to none in the way it looks after them.”
“We need to keep building on that year on year until the gap between what Ireland offers and what other countries offer is no longer a reason for anyone to leave. We should be moving urgently towards safe staffing legislation and real enforceable ratios in order that every nurse can finish their shift knowing they gave the standard of care they trained so hard to deliver. We should be providing genuine career progression in order that nurses qualifying today can look ahead and see a future here that is fulfilling, sustainable and rewarding. We should be making the choice easy. Right now, for too many nurses, it is not easy enough. We want the young people who are considering nursing as a career to choose it with confidence. We want newly qualified nurses to look around and see a country that has their back.”
“That is not a badge of honour; it is a warning sign flashing red for all of us, so we need to take heed. The INMO has told us that there are currently 5,000 nurse and midwife vacancies across the country. That is not just a number on a page; it is 5,000 opportunities for Irish nurses to come home, to step in and to be part of rebuilding something, and it is 5,000 reasons why we must make Ireland as attractive as possible for nurses to stay and to return. That is why we should be making Ireland the best place in the world for an Irish nurse to build their career. We should be investing in pay that properly reflects the responsibility nurses carry every day. A staff nurse starts on €37,288.”
“Celebrating our nurses means asking ourselves an honest question: are we doing enough to make Ireland a place where they want to stay, where they feel valued enough to build their whole career, their whole life, right here at home? The truth is that Irish nurses are wanted everywhere: Australia wants them, Canada wants them, the Middle East wants them. Who could blame any country for wanting the best? However, we want them here also and we need them here. More than that, they belong here, in the hospitals and communities they grew up in, caring for the people they know, building something lasting in the country that shaped them. It is worrying that Ireland has the highest proportion of foreign-trained nurses in the entire OECD, 51.8%, more than twice the level of the second highest country.”