More than 1,000 nurses or midwives, who were removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland register within the last week, for non-payment of their annual €100 registration fee, will have to restore their names before they can legally work in any hospital in Ireland.
Last week, the NMBI removed 3,492 nurses and midwives from the register but many of these were due to retirement or emigration.
Since then more than 1,000 nurses, not in those categories, can no longer work unless they re-register and pay a €250 restoration fee, along with the annual €100 registration charge.
Following discussions late last week, involving the NMBI and the Irish Nurses and Midwives' Organisation, interim measures were put in place over the weekend to allow nurses apply to re-register.
INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said the number removed was higher than normal for this time of year.
Nurses have been advised that once the restoration form and payment are received, the restoration process can take up to three working days.
Before removing a nurse from the register, the NMBI must have demanded initial payment, then have issued one reminder and waited 28 days before removing the nurse or midwife from the register.
The Board said it communicated directly with trade unions and employers about the renewal process.
There appears to have been some confusion among some nurses about the final date for payment this year, which may be related to the boycott earlier in the year over the planned registration fee increase.
However, the NMBI says that the removal of nurses from the register has been incorrectly linked to the fees dispute.
At the start of the year, nursing unions and the NMBI clashed over the Board's plan to increase the annual registration fee to €150.
Following mass protests and a public campaign by unions for non-payment of the increased fee, the NMBI decided to amend the fee back to €100, to avoid a scenario where a large cohort of nurses or midwives could not continue to work.
