Hundreds of newly qualified nurses and midwives across Ireland face unemployment and uncertainty as the HSE withholds permanent job contracts despite significant staffing vacancies in hospitals nationwide. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called on the HSE to immediately issue permanent contracts to 2026 graduates, warning that regional budgetary restrictions are preventing essential healthcare positions from being filled.
The union highlighted 23 vacant midwifery posts at University Hospital Galway, while Cork University Maternity Hospital has more than 80 nursing and midwifery vacancies. Similar difficulties have been reported across the country, from Drogheda and Sligo to Letterkenny and Cork.
The INMO argues that withholding or withdrawing graduate job offers breaches longstanding national employment commitments and undermines government policies on recruitment, staff retention, and safe staffing levels. It maintains that financial controls should not prevent hospitals from filling urgently needed positions. The union is urging the HSE to honour its employment commitments and provide graduates with permanent contracts to help address staffing shortages and protect patient care.
INMO New Graduate Officer, Ralph Brennan, said: “After four years of study, exams, and clinical placements, these new graduates should be looking forward to starting their careers. These are young nurses and midwives who want to stay, work, and build their careers in Ireland. It is unbelievable that they are being left in limbo when they are so desperately needed. We cannot expect young nurses and midwives to stay in Ireland if this is how we treat them at the very beginning of their careers.”
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