Nurse Migration to Ireland: An Overview. Nurse Migration Project Policy Brief 1

Ireland, historically a net exporter of nurses to countries such as the UK and the USA, began in the 1990s to encounter nursing shortages. As a result, employers initiated international recruitment campaigns to facilitate the migration of qualified nurses to Ireland [1]. Despite being a newcomer to overseas nurse recruitment, the rate of recruitment to Ireland in recent years has been rapid and remarkable. Overseas trained nurses, mainly from outside of the EU, are now an essential component of the Irish nursing workforce. However, there is little information available about them to inform workforce planning and policy making. Questions include: Where are they from? What skills did they bring to Ireland [2]? Where are they now working? Are their skills being well utilised? And – of crucial importance – do they intend to stay in Ireland? If they intend to move on, what are the reasons and what would encourage migrant nurses, who have undergone recruitment and adaptation programmes, to stay working in Ireland? The RCSI nurse migration project seeks to fill these information gaps, through qualitative and quantitative surveys of migrant nurses in Ireland. This policy brief is the first in a series of outputs, disseminating emerging and early project findings.