A nurse who was left waiting 14 months for her registration papers after moving from Australia to Ireland has finally been given permission to work here.

On Newstalk Breakfast last week, Toni Mayola Su said she began the registration process with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) as soon as she arrived her in June 2021.

She said she was faced with one thing after another from the board, noting that every time they needed a new document from her, she had to wait another 90 days for a reply.

She said she was left with no choice but to work other jobs while she waited and had no choice but to put her nursing career on hold – even though the Irish health service is crying out for staff.

This morning, she returned to the show with good news.

“I received very good news on the day I appeared on your show,” she said.

“Basically, I came on your show at 7:10am and at 1pm that day I got the decision letter from NMBI.

“I am not sure if it is a coincidence but I got the letter on the same day so I am very happy and thank you guys so much for your help.”

She said she can’t wait to get to work.

“It’s what I love to do,” she said. “I trained hard to be a nurse and it was just frustrating not to be able to continue to practice for the last 14 months.”

In a statement last week, the NMBI said it was “very conscious of the need for more nurses and midwives in the Irish healthcare system”, but insisted it was essential that all applications are appropriately assessed.

"We are continuing to receive a high number of applications and our teams are working hard to progress these as quickly as possible while ensuring they meet the required standards."

It added that, over the past year, timelines for processing applications have “significantly reduced.”