State ‘making progress’ on backlog for foreign nurses

Staff urgently needed to ease shortages here due to Covid-19 currently face a frustrating delay in processing applications

Countries such as India and the Philippines are a significant source of nursing staff in Ireland, with 42 per cent of nurses in nursing homes recruited from outside the EU

Progress is being made in reducing a backlog in visa applications that has been been blamed for slowing up the arrival of badly needed foreign nurses into the country, the Department of Justice has said.

An estimated 7,000 workers across the Irish healthcare sector are currently unable to work after contracting Covid-19 or being told they are close contacts of a confirmed case.

A report submitted by Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) to the government late ...