The nurse, Mark Lester Ordonez, admitted to a fitness-to-practise inquiry of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland that he had “crossed the line” in his interactions with the 18-year-old girl when she attended Beaumont Hospital in 2023.

Since December 2019 the increase in staff numbers has been 26,000 WTE or up by 21.8 per cent.