No work permit for nurses’ spouses

THE health service is losing many of its Filipino nurses because their spouses are not allowed to work here, a nurses’ conference heard yesterday.

Filipino nurse Malvin Pallinoma addressed the SIPTU National Nursing Convention yesterday. He told almost 300 delegates that many of his Filipino colleagues had left Ireland and gone to the US, Australia and Britain to work there.

“The Irish government is spending money on recruiting, placing and training Filipino nurses only to have them leave after a few months,” said Mr Pallinoma, who works in Cork.