Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 40:

In page 84, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following: “Atypical Working Scheme for Nurses

57.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where a foreign national—

(a) has been offered a contract of employment to work as a nurse in the State, and

(b) has been given leave to enter the State pursuant to the scheme established by the Minister for Justice known as the Atypical Working Scheme for Nurses, for the purpose of completing a clinical adaptation programme or aptitude test as specified in the scheme,

the foreign national is deemed to have been given a general employment permit of one year’s duration.

(2) A general employment permit deemed to have been given under subsection (1)—

(a) does not entitle the foreign national, unless and until he or she is registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland to do so, to work as a nurse, and

(b) entitles the foreign national to work—

(i) in an employment that is ancillary to employment as a nurse (such as a healthcare assistant), where registration pursuant to any enactment is not a condition of such employment, and

(ii) in a different employment that—

(I) is specified in regulations under section 40as an employment for which a general employment permit may be granted, or

(II) is not an employment that is specified in such regulations as an employment for which a general employment permit shall not be granted or that falls within a category of employment for which such an employment permit shall not be granted.

(3) A foreign national to whom this section applies shall notify the Minister of the commencement of any employment concerned, within a prescribed period and the notification shall be in such form and include such information as may be

prescribed.”.

The Minister of State will be familiar with the Department of Justice atypical working scheme for nurses who have been offered contracts of employment. The situation is as follows. They come to Ireland. In most cases they need to do a clinical adaptation programme or aptitude test. The regulations are governed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. I am told by nursing unions that a worker who comes here often may not meet the criteria or the thresholds in the first few months. That creates problems. Such workers cannot work or can work only as nurses. There is an issue with recruitment and retention of healthcare assistants. It would be logical if measures could be taken to address this situation in order to ensure that those who are here could continue to work in our health service and would be given essentially an employment permit and all the rights that would come with that, that is, a general employment permit to allow them to address those accreditation and clinical adaption programme issues. This is an anomaly that might not have been predicted when this scheme was introduced. To the best of my recollection, it was introduced in 2014. A case could be made for reverting to the previous situation or accepting this amendment or, at least, the spirit of the amendment. I am happy to work with the Minister of State on the amendment if he believes it can be finessed to some degree, but I think he will understand the principle of the issue. It ought to be addressed.