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As the second day of strike action gets underway, a significant majority of people in Ireland support the strike by
nurses and midwives.

​64 percent back the strike action, an enormous 87 percent believe the Government could do more to recruit and retain nurses and midwives in Ireland, while women are more supportive of the strike than men, according to a survey carried out by iReach Insights.

From 8am this morning nurses resumed strike action as the pay dispute with the Government rumbles on. To understand what people in Ireland make of the current situation, iReach conducted a nationally representative survey of 1001 people.
The findings demonstrate the great level of sympathy the public have for nurses and midwives, as well the widespread feeling that the Irish Government could do more to make their working conditions more favourable and attractive.

The results also indicate that support and sympathy for nurses and midwives is significantly higher among women rather men in Ireland.

64 percent of respondents support the nursing strike, though interestingly, support is far higher among females at 71 percent than it is with males, at just 56 percent. Additionally, 27 percent of males oppose the strike, whereas only 11 percent of females are in disagreement.

65 percent of the overall population believe that it is unfair that nurses are paid less in comparison to their healthcare counterparts, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Yet, once again there is a discrepancy in the level of sympathy for nurses and midwives between males and females. 71 percent of females felt that the pay conditions of nurses are unfair with the figure for males substantially lower again at 59 percent.

On the question of whether the Government could do more to recruit and retain nurses and midwives in Ireland, a rather emphatic 87 percent of those asked believed that more could be done. It is notable again that female respondents (90 percent) are more demanding than males (83 percent ) in looking for action from the Irish Government.