Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Bill. The nursing profession is, in general, very much in favour of it. Legislation that deals with nurses has been brought before the House before - I refer principally to the Nurses Act, 1985, which dealt with the operation of the Irish Nursing Board, An Bórd Altranais.

It is only natural that we should move on in the best interests of the public, and in the interests of integrity and nursing practice, to update legislation. We can all see how quickly changes are taking place in the health service.

Like the Minister, I do not believe that self-regulation is in the best interests of the public. The Bill states that we need to protect the public in its dealings with nurses and midwives, and to protect the integrity and practice of nursing and midwivery. Some nurses told me that they were talking about regulation, but were brought back down to earth when they saw that the first line of the Bill states that its purpose was to enhance the protection of the public in its dealings with nurses and midwives.

There has been good work on the Bill, particularly regarding the recognition of midwivery as a separate and distinct profession. The section of the Bill that provides for the clinical supervision of midwives is important. It makes the point that there must be adequate indemnity insurance. The Minister said it is considered necessary for mothers and babies that all midwives have adequate indemnity insurance in the event of a negligence case that could result in substantial claims.

We have to admit that there is a great deal of litigation in the health service these days. The Bill ensures that all midwives will require indemnity cover, and that those who are employed will be covered by their employer's insurance. Self-employed midwives who sign up a memorandum of understanding with HSE will be covered by the State's clinical indemnity scheme.

I have often raised with nurses the question of the number of unions involved in the profession. I was fortunate to be a member of the Health Board in the 1990s. People have criticised the Health Board; I am biased because I was a board member, as other Members of the House have been.

I was always impressed by the contribution of nurses at board meetings. There were representatives from the Psychiatric Nursing Association, SIPTU and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, formerly the INO - I am sure that is true of all health boards. They each emphasised different aspects in their contributions; SIPTU and the INO were the two biggest unions at that time.

We hear from experts in the field who say we should have just one union for nurses, one for teachers and one each for other professions. However, it is not as simple as that. The nursing unions have their own particular interests, and the needs of their members are different. That difference is acknowledged by the separate section in the Bill on midwivery as distinct from nurses in general.

The Minister visited Ballinasloe recently, and she met many members of the unions to discuss the developments at Portiuncula Hospital.

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