Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will now move to allowance No. 23, which is the community allowance. To set this in context, this allowance is to compensate mental health nurses for loss of earnings when moved from a hospital to a community setting. Payment ranges from €4,962 to €5,722 per annum and the allowance cost about €3.4 million in 2011. I have a question arising from anecdotal experience. Is it necessary to offer this inducement? One of the main gripes that many nurses have - or one of the main challenges of their profession - is the long, anti-social hours. The fact that a nurse is moving to a community setting as part of a primary care team enables people to have a more regular work-rest lifestyle. Is it necessary to offer the inducement? I imagine that this type of work might suit many people within the nursing profession very well. How is the formula for loss of earnings, between the sums of €4,962 to €5,722 per annum, actually calculated?