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Review: The impact of the economic crisis and austerity on the nursing and midwifery professions in the Republic of Ireland – ‘boom’, ‘bust’ and retrenchment

This paper offers a synopsis of economic and professional events in Ireland that have had an impact on nursing over the past 16 years, thereby providing the reader with a concise overview of recent factors that have influenced the evolution of the profession. This has implications in terms of promoting understanding of how the current generation of nurses have developed in this country. The authors highlight the negative effect of reduced nurse staffing levels on patient care, and support these comments with reference to very recent research in relation to this. Therefore, anecdotal concerns that have been raised by nurses at the coal face are given evidentiary credence by the content within this paper. Furthermore, the need to measure and analyse the impact and effect of staffing deficits on the nursing contribution to healthcare is emphasised, thereby demonstrating the requirement for further research in this area. The authors also provide a concise description of the pattern of salary scale reduction for nurses in Ireland since the economic crisis. Based on this, the need for more robust data in relation to the consequent effects of these actions on the profession is highlighted, as currently, anecdotal evidence is suggesting that many nurses are engaging in additional employment and increasing their working hours in order to supplement their salaries. This highlights the requirement for nurses to engage in critical self-reflection. In the