Work-ready nurses 'sidelined' due to HSE hiring restrictions, says Laois Senator

Newly-qualified nurses, who have completed the HSE recruitment process for positions in Portlaoise, have not begun work due to the HSE’s hiring restrictions, says Laois Sinn Féin Senator Maria McCormack. The Senator said the restrictions are “unacceptable” given the current pressure on the Irish healthcare system and warned that they may result in a winter crisis in hospitals.

“I have been contacted by newly qualified nurses who have successfully progressed through the HSE recruitment process for positions at Midlands hospitals, including Portlaoise,” Senator McCormack said. “These nurses say they now remain without contracts or any indication of commencement dates due to recruitment restrictions.

“MRH Portlaoise has significant capacity pressures and to think that there are newly qualified nurses who should be, and want to be, part of the solution, are being sidelined by recruitment restrictions – it’s incomprehensible.”

The hiring restrictions require sign-off from the Department of Health before certain HSE regions can employ new staff, delaying those regions’ recruitment processes. Senator McCormack has called on the Minister for Health to immediately ease recruitment restrictions across the midlands hospitals ahead of the winter period.

The Senator noted that the recruitment restrictions are particularly concerning in the context of the current pressures on our health system.

“These nurses are telling us they are now being forced to look abroad for employment opportunities,” she said.

“This is unacceptable at a time when pressures in our national health system are endangering people’s health and, in some cases, their lives.

“The warning signs could not be clearer. Today, 824 patients were waiting for a hospital bed according to the INMO – the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year.”

INMO (the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) records the number of patients on trolleys or chairs throughout hospitals and emergency departments. According to INMO, there are eight patients on trolleys in Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise today, October 29, 2026.

The Senator continued: “We have come through a summer of record-breaking hospital overcrowding. More than 10,000 patients were treated on trolleys or in inappropriate bed spaces in July, August was the worst August on record, and September was the worst September on record with 12,274 patients without a proper bed.

“If this is where the health service is at before the full winter surge has even begun, then the Minister needs to act now.

“Whether the Government wants to call it an embargo, a recruitment pause or recruitment controls, the reality is that priority posts which are needed to safely deliver services are not being filled.

“The Minister must lift these restrictions and ensure that every funded priority post required for patient safety is cleared for recruitment.

“The INMO has been warning repeatedly that the health service will not be properly equipped for winter unless recruitment restrictions are removed.

“The Government needs to listen to those warnings and act before we end up in another entirely predictable winter crisis.”