07-05-2025
Overworked nurses paying thousands for ‘inappropriate' rental properties, INMO conference hears
Landlords in Cork charge nurses thousands every month to rent houses last renovated almost 30 years ago, a senior Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) official has said.
Another nurse said a mortgage is only a dream now on her wages.
Up to 77% of newly-qualified nurses' wages go on spiralling rental prices, the INMO annual conference in Wexford yesterday heard.
INMO first vice-president and nurse at Cork University Hospital Ester Fitzgerald said she was shocked when visiting a rented house with a young Indian colleague recently.
'It was a house I had rented in 1998 to be precise, and it was — the soft furnishings, the couch, kitchen table, the curtains — exactly the same,' she said.
I think if my memory serves we were paying about £500 at the time and she is now paying €1,900 for the exact same house.
Ms Fitzgerald warned overworked young nurses are renting in 'totally inappropriate' houses.
She called on hospitals to provide onsite accommodation, saying colleagues in other cities and smaller towns such as Mullingar face similar problems.
Christopher Hughes, a student nurse with the Eastern Youth Forum, detailed CSO data on rents and house prices.
'These costs amount to approximately 77% of a newly-qualified staff nurse wages which start at approximately €32,000 with an early-career nurse earning about €36,000,' he said.
He proposed a motion for a State-funded 'modified housing assistance payment' for nurses and midwives.
His colleague James Leonard said: 'Too often are we hearing of nurses and midwives getting two and three buses to work, two and three buses from work because they can't live in the area where they work.'
Christopher Hughes, student nurse delegate with the Eastern Youth Forum, proposed a motion for a State-funded 'modified housing assistance payment' for nurses and midwives.
He is aware of staff commuting two-hours each way because they bought homes so far from city hospitals.
'Hospitals are losing their staff because people cannot afford to live near where they work,' he said, adding that working from home is not an option.
A speaker from the Kilkenny branch said her parents were psychiatric nurses and bought a home on their wages in the 1970s-1980s.
'It's a dream now to be able to afford a mortgage on a nurses' salary,' she warned.
She and other speakers called for Dublin staff to receive a higher salary as is done in London.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha shared their concerns.
'Housing is a huge issue for nurses and midwives, not just our younger new graduates, but in general,' she told reporters during the conference.
'And we have real concerns in respect of staffing facilities, particularly the new Children's Hospital, which is smack bang in the middle of Dublin.'
The union is aware there is 'some accommodation' possibly available in the old Crumlin hospital but it is not clear however if nurses could use it.
Read More
Majority of nurses say staffing levels pose risk to patient safety, INMO survey finds
