The NMBI maintains two registers:[2] Following Henry VIII’s dissolution of monasteries, nursing became near non-existent in Ireland for almost three hundred years.
[3] In parallel, nursing as a public service was also practised by the inmates of workhouses; this is notable as the network of workhouses and infirmaries are the precursor of modern Irish health via key legislation such as the Medical Charities Act 1851 and reviews of the Poor laws such as 1868.
However, nursing as a regulated profession in Ireland began when the Irish Workhouse Association, which was formed in 1896, demanded that staff must be formally qualified.
In order to join the Register, applicants must have completed a registration programme in their chosen field of nursing.
It is possible for nurses to undertake additional education, including individual modules that qualify them in specific areas like wound management.