The INMO says the multi-million euro bill that agency staff are costing the HSE every year is down to the recruitment embargo introduced back in 2008.
Figures revealed by Sinn Fein last week reveal that over €5.3m was spent last year at Sligo University Hospital alone on agency staff.
Dave Hughes, Deputy General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says that permanent nurses and doctors here are simply not being paid enough and as a result are leaving the country.
He says the problem dates back to the recruitment embargo:
