Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that the Minister for Health merely monitors what is happening. This seems to be his forte. He monitors waiting lists and trolley counts, but we need activity in this situation. We do not need the Minister to monitor further. We need him to ensure that the board engages with the nursing organisations to ensure we have an affordable retention fee so that nurses can register and be allowed practise in our public health system. The nurses are threatening to pay just the previous fee of €100. If they do, we will then have a situation where our nurses will no longer be employed by the health services. That is the situation we face.

I suggest it would be easy for the Minister to ensure there is positive engagement between the board, which has unilaterally decided to increase the fee by 50%, and the nursing associations. The board has increased the fee without a meaningful need to do so, other than a bland statement saying it must do so for fitness to practise reasons. Is it that in moving from Fitzwilliam out to Blackrock the nursing board got caught up in the property bubble? We cannot expect nurses who are already under financial pressure to now pay a mandatory increase of 50% on their registration fee. They are not given a choice. If they want to work, they must pay this. It is a form of tax. There is nothing voluntary about the fee and nurses must pay it.

I suggest the Tánaiste should ask her constituency and Cabinet colleague to roll up his sleeves and ask the board to engage meaningfully over the coming weekend in order to bring this issue to a satisfactory conclusion.

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