Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I said, nurses' pay was the subject of negotiation and agreement with the trade unions representing nurses. The number of nursing staff increased by 100 in the first month of 2014, reflecting the take-up of posts under the graduate initiative. Nearly 500 nurses and midwives have commenced employment in recent months on that graduate scheme. More than 200 others are going through the recruitment process and more than 1,000 applications have been received for that scheme.

In fairness, we need to take on board a number of points. The first is that the issue of pay has been the subject of agreement, which is to be welcomed. Second, we are recruiting. There was a time when we saw quite significant declines in the numbers of nurses employed in the system and I remind the Deputy that in 2010, 2,500 nurses were taken from the system, with another 3,000 going in 2011. We are now seeing recruitment of nurses in the health service, which is good, and it is being done subject to the agreements reached, which is also good.

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