Council urges Government incentives to retain Irish medical professionals

A need for incentives for Irish doctors and nurses was discussed at this month's Council meeting in Carrick-on-Shannon. 

Cllr Justin Warnock proposed a motion urging elected members to call on Minister for Further and Higher Education Patrick McGrath TD and Minister for Finance Jack Chambers TD to introduce substantial incentives for trainee doctors, nurses, and other medical students, in exchange for a two to three-year commitment to work in Ireland after graduation.

The motion was seconded by Cllr Mary Bohan and supported by a majority of councillors.

“We have a very serious issue in relation to our frontline staff. There were 2000 training nurses and midwives in 2023 and seventy-three percent of them said they were going to emigrate when surveyed,” said Cllr Warnock.

“We have a serious problem with our nurses and doctors leaving this country. We have 30,000 doctors in this country but forty percent of them are from outside Ireland. Pakistan, Sudan and the UK are the top three countries they're coming in from.

“We have over 70,000 nurses and forty-nine percent of them are coming in from other countries, from India, the UK and the Philippines.

“The World Health Organisation has said in good code of practice that every nation should be able to be in a position to look after their own people. 

“We're taking nurses and doctors in from developing countries around the world where their ratio of doctors to patients would be a lot lower than we're at in this country.

“They need to come up with a plan and put something in place to incentivise in some way for training doctors and nurses to stay on as needed to get us out of this swamp that we're in. It cannot go on. 

“It's not sustainable. It's running our country down,” he said. 

Cllr Warnock also highlighted the debt that student doctors and nurses face, challenging their stability and affordability to live. 

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Cllr Felim Gurn supported the motion saying, “Out of a class of 120 doctors that graduated, 90 of them emigrated to Australia.

“We have them on a conveyer belt. It's not just in the health system, it's our plumbers and electricians, it's right across the board.

“We're training and educating, but it's other countries that are seeing the benefit,” he concluded. 

“I'm delighted to see this is being acknowledged, Cllr Padraig Fallon said. 

“I know numerous newly qualified nurses who were leaving because within their training in the health facilities in our local hospitals - they couldn't stick it. 

“They're overloaded and the system is broken. They want to stay, but they have to go and it's as simple as that. It needs to be addressed.” 

Cllr Warnock concluded his motion by revealing a stark statistic that eighteen percent of all newly qualified nurses in Ireland leave the profession within 12 months. 

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Cathaoirleach Cllr Paddy O'Rourke acknowledged the strong support for Cllr Warnock's motion and the proposal is set to be forwarded to Minister for Finance Jack Chambers TD.