Cork Kerry Community Healthcare says it's actively recruiting nurses for Kerry Mental Health Services.
It's responding to SIPTU claims that recently-graduated mental nurses in Kerry are not getting permanent contracts.
The HSE says recruitment campaigns last year and this year were open to those affiliated with the Nursing and Midwifery Board - including student nurses who graduated between 2022 and this year.
It says management remains committed to optimising permanent employment for graduates.
SIPTU branch organiser Donie Doody claims eight to ten mental health nurses, who graduated in Kerry last year, have not been given permanent posts by the HSE.
He says they need permanent contracts because job insecurity has forced at least one nurse to emigrate to Australia:
