Today is International Nurses Day. It is an opportunity to recognise and pay tribute to nurses and midwives and recognise their contribution to the Irish health system. I particularly want to pay tribute to all the nurses and midwives in north County Dublin. As of June 2025 there were more than 92,000 nurses and midwives on the register in Ireland. This is the highest ever recorded number of nurses and midwives in Ireland. The workforce, as the Leader can imagine, is strongly gendered, with around 90% of registered nurses and midwives being women. Ireland relies heavily on internationally trained nurses and midwives to meet our workforce demands. While 59% on the register are Irish, the rest of them come from many other countries around the globe. I am grateful they have chosen Ireland to come to and work in our health service. Some 22% of our nurses and midwives are from India and 8% are from the Philippines. Many of these nurses and midwives left their own countries and families behind to work in our health service and watch their children grow up through screens and FaceTime. Today is a day to remember particularly their sacrifice to contribute to our health service.

Migrant Nurses Ireland has highlighted reports of racist abuse faced by migrant nurses and midwives. We as a society and as a health service must have a zero tolerance approach when it comes to making sure that our migrant nurses and midwives are safe within the health service and that their workplaces are inclusive, tolerant and respectful and, most of all, safe for them to work and do their jobs. Not long ago many thousands of Irish girls and women went overseas and trained and worked as nurses abroad. I am thinking particularly of the NHS in the UK. They encountered many barriers and racism. We should not forget our history. We should remember the migrant nurses and midwives working in our own health service here.

The future of healthcare in Ireland depends on the empowering of midwives and nurses. Throughout the EU nurses are increasingly involved in community screening programmes, prevention and health promotion, nurse-led chronic health disease pathways and contraception and family planning services. The evidence is strong when it comes to nurses delivering healthcare in communities.

Nurses and midwives need to have a clearer specialisation pathway, more support for postgraduate training and better advancement opportunities within the healthcare service. We have a growing demand for nurses and midwives due to our growing and ageing population. By 2040, we will need over 100,000 whole-time equivalent nurses and midwives in the Irish health service. The key to delivering this, and the Government has a goal towards this, lies in expanding our own training and undergraduate degree places for nurses and midwives in Ireland. I ask the Deputy Leader to request a debate with the Minister for further and higher education, Deputy James Lawless, in the House around the expansion of training, education and undergraduate places for nurses and midwives in Ireland. We are too vulnerable to rely just on nurses and midwives from abroad because it is a high-in-demand and highly mobile workforce and we need to be increasing across the board. It would be a really worthwhile debate to have in this House.