Nursing jobs

Nursing jobs in Ireland: frequently asked questions

Welcome to our nurse jobs page, featuring all the latest nursing jobs in Ireland, as well as frequently asked questions below.

Nursing jobs in Ireland: frequently asked questions

Nursing is one of the most demanding and fulfilling careers you could have. Along with the challenges come many advantages such as job flexibility with wide and varied career opportunities. It’s a job you can travel with, effectively giving you a passport to the world. It also gives good job security, excellent maternity plans and a true vocation for life.

How many nurses are there in Ireland?

There are currently over 82,000 nurses registered by the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) of which over 65,000 are on the active register.

What are the types of roles available in nursing in Ireland?

There are seven nursing divisions within the register:

• General nurse

• Psychiatric nurse

• Children's nurse

• Intellectual disability nurse

And then - midwifery, public health and tutor.

Just on this website, there are normally over 1,000 nursing jobs available throughout Ireland in urban and rural areas within the Acute, Mental Health and ID (Intellectual Disability) Services.

Within these services there are a huge variety of roles available.

Whatever your temperament and personality, there’s likely to be a nursing specialty to suit.

The working environments can also vary enormously from fast-paced adrenaline-fuelled frontline emergency services to slower-pace environments giving you more time to bond with patients and their families.

Nurses are often under pressure to do a wealth of complex tasks quickly and perfectly every time with high stakes or they may work in a less critical, more relaxed environment with basically ‘well’ patients and more time to talk, listen and plan.

Career options available to registered nurses

You can choose to work with every age, demographic and level of acuteness from premature newborns to the elderly, from school children needing check-ups to adults who are undergoing critical procedures or elective plastic surgery.

The scope is endless. After qualifying, most nurses begin their nursing career as a Staff Nurse.

This is where the real experience and understanding of the world of nursing begins, typically within a hospital or care home environment.

With experience, more senior roles become available such as Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Nurse Practitioner and CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist).

There are also educational roles to explore e.g. student mentors and management roles such as Ward Sister or Matron, where you’ll oversee a number of wards.

Nurses work in a wide variety of different settings such as hospitals, care homes, nursing homes, the community (going to people’s homes), at GPs, schools and in sexual health clinics.

What are the personal skills you need to be a nurse?

Wherever your career takes you, the following attributes will see you flourish.

Being a good listener

This will help you build trust and rapport with patients, clients and your fellow staff. It will also help you in your role as ‘detective’ in picking up clues to help with accurate diagnosis and appropriate care.

Enjoying meeting new people

This is a big one as it is likely something you will do every day. Good communication skills are also essential in a nurse.

Open to learning and continual personal development

You also need to be committed to the idea of lifelong learning as every day presents new challenges.

Approachable

Being approachable is important too and ultimately being minded to assist people in any way you can to lead independent, healthy, happy lives.

What you need to work as a nurse in Ireland

In order to work as a nurse in Ireland, you will first need to be registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). This used to be called the An Bord Altranais (ABA) so if you’ve seen that name mentioned it’s the same thing.

The NMBI website has all the information you need on registering as a nurse or midwife in Ireland.

All nurses and midwifes who practice in Ireland by law must renew their registration with the NMBI every year, which currently costs €145 per year.

If you trained as a nurse or midwife in the Republic of Ireland, you should qualify to register.

If you trained outside Ireland, the NMBI will assess your application and let you know if further training or education is needed.

The NMBI offers a guide for overseas applicants, which can be downloaded from their website.

There is also an English language requirement to be met before your registration can be approved.

Nursing Jobs in Ireland are open to all overseas nurses across all disciplines with a particular demand for general nurses in addition to mental health nurses, learning disability nurses, midwifery and paediatric nurses.

What qualifications do you need to be a registered nurse in Ireland?

Once you have successfully passed your degree you are eligible to apply to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

To find out more about how to apply for a nursing course visit the NMBI website.

You will need to apply for your course through the Central Applications Office.

If your application is successful you will be issued an offer in mid-August.

After your degree, you may want to consider a post-graduate diploma.

This is usually 1 year vocational study in areas such as critical care, oncology or cardiac and will open up more senior jobs in specific areas.

How can an Irish nurse move to work in the NHS in the UK?

Irish nurses are highly sought after overseas and any qualifications and training you have received in Ireland are likely to be acceptable in UK, with the appropriate documentation. To work as a Registered Nurse in the UK you must first register with the NMC (Nursing Midwifery Council).

You’ll also need to provide evidence of a certain level of English.

Once you are NMC-registered, you are technically able to work anywhere in UK as a Registered Nurse or midwife.

Naturally, as in any sector, each individual job will require different skills, experience and qualifications.

What Salary can you expect as a Nurse in Ireland?

The average salary for a Registered Nurse in Ireland is €39,296 per year, affected by experience, job role, location, your specialism and whether you are in a Practitioner role or a Staff Nurse.

A newly qualified staff nurse or midwife, that is a nurse who has finished college, but has yet to be registered under the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), would start on an annual salary of around €24,850.

After tax, that’s around €21,700, or a net monthly income of around €1,800.

Find your next Nursing job today

We hope you found this information on being a Nurse in Ireland helpful. View our latest roles above, or if you can’t find what you’re looking for, create an account and register your CV here and we’ll send you the latest roles as soon as they arise.