Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Devane. The last area relates to public health nurses. There is a huge shortage of public health nurses, who provide a really important preventative service. Obviously, there is the whole area of screening for newborns and children. There are big tracts of the country in which those screenings are not taking place, especially in disadvantaged areas. There are also services for older people. They deal with people in the community at both ends of the age spectrum. They provide a really important service and it seems that the allowance that is payable by the HSE is less for the postgraduate training for PHNs than it is for other forms of nursing. Again, that is creating a dire shortage. I ask that those three employment areas be addressed at board level in the hope of clearing the logjam that seems to exist.