The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said there is a shortage of nurses here, despite figures which show that Ireland has more nurses for our population size than other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

The numbers were gathered from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland's data on professionally active nurses, along with details from the Central Statistics' Office Quarterly National Household Survey.

The information shows that Ireland has an average of 12 nurses per 1,000 people, compared with the OECD average of 9.

But General Secretary of the INMO Liam Doran, has said the numbers do not reflect the actual situation where hospitals are struggling to fill nursing posts.

“The reality is on the front line we are short nurses and midwives and employers are trying to fill that gap but they are failing to date because the terms and conditions in Ireland are not sufficiently attractive, they are not competitive with the UK and other countries.”