Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for their presentation. I pay tribute to the midwives, nurses and other staff in the maternity hospitals across the country. They do a wonderful job and sometimes do not receive half the recognition they deserve. What further information is required to be submitted by the 55 applicants? Is there a deadline before people have to return the relevant information? How will it be processed? How long will the entire process take?

Regarding the recommendations for registrationin the final stage, for how long more will applicants have to wait to have their forms processed? Incomplete documents were submitted by overseas applicants in 70% of cases. There were 1,398 applicants with incomplete documentation. One would regard people applying for a job in this area as being very professional and as having considerable education. One wonders why it is not simple to provide the right documents or information. Is it a simple process of ticking a box or is it more complicated? It seems the form is complicated. How many live applications is the board dealing with at present? I am not too sure.

The board said it had 55 staff and is down 11 but that it hopes to recruit 11 more. Is the board seeking another three staff in addition?