Three health boards yesterday apologised to 27 nurses from the Philippines who were moved from unsuitable accommodation by the Irish Nurses' Organisation on Tuesday night.
Yesterday morning, new accommodation to which some of the nurses had been moved was burgled.
The Minister for Health and Children said he was "perturbed" by the accommodation affair. He is writing to health service employers to remind them of their responsibilities towards nurses recruited from abroad.
The nurses, who had been recruited for health board hospitals and nursing homes in the eastern region, were moved from the Elmar B & B in Gardiner Street after it was visited on Tuesday night by an INO official, Mr Philip McAnenly, and a member of the INO committee at St Colmcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ms Madeleine Speirs. Ms Speirs had alerted the INO after a nurse told her about conditions in the building. The owner could not be contacted last night.
Mr McAnenly said there were only two gas rings for 27 nurses and three other residents. "I found six people sharing a room that was suitable for two. Beds were pushed together. There were three instances of people of the same sex having to share a bed. Bed linen had not been changed in two weeks." There had been nobody to make breakfast for the nurses in the mornings and they were cooking in their rooms.
He arranged for them to move to other accommodation including the Hazelbrook, also on Gardiner Street.
Gardai say four rooms were burgled in the Hazelbrook yesterday morning, including three rooms occupied by the nurses.
Finding suitable accommodation for the nurses was among the responsibilities of a committee set up by the three health boards in the eastern region - but, by last night the boards were still unable to say what had gone wrong and that they were investigating the circumstances.
The health boards are: the East Coast Area Health Board (Wicklow and parts of Dublin), the Northern Area Health Board (North Dublin) and the South Western Area Health Board (Kildare and parts of Dublin).
"The boards regret and apologise for any discomfort or upset caused to the nurses involved," they said.
The nurses had been accommodated in the Hazelbrook but "as this accommodation had been pre-booked by other groups for St Patrick's weekend it became necessary for the Filipino staff to move to alternative accommodation".
"This was a short-term and interim measure prior to the nurses moving to accommodation closer to their own work placements."
All future accommodation would be "strictly assessed".
Fine Gael and the Labour Party issued statements condemning the nurses' treatment.