Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for raising this issue. Before I start, it is important to acknowledge the incredible work performed by all nurses and the key role they play in delivering essential health services to those most in need across the country, not only during Covid but every day of the week.

This Government is committed to supporting and continuing to grow the nursing workforce. We have seen unprecedented growth in the health sector workforce, with record levels of recruitment in the HSE over the past five years. There are over 29,000 more staff working in the health system today than there were at the beginning of 2020, an increase of more than 24%, which includes an additional 10,154 nurses and midwives. According to the most recent OECD report, Ireland has 12.8 practising nurses per 1,000 population, which is the second highest number among the reported EU countries, second only to Finland. In comparison, the UK currently has 8.7 nurses per 1,000 population.

It is true that during Covid many retired nurses returned to work in the HSE to support the national response to the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, when a retired public or civil servant returns to work in the public sector, they can only be reimbursed to the value of their final salary, and their pension is abated accordingly during the period of employment. However, to support retired workers to return to work during the Covid emergency, the then Department of Public Expenditure and Reform approved a temporary waiver of pension abatement. In effect, this meant that those retired workers could receive the full benefit of their salary and their pension. This temporary Covid emergency waiver ended on 31 March 2021, when the abatement policy for the health sector returned to normal, in line with all other sectors. It is the case that some retired persons remained in employment beyond the March 2021 date.

The Department of Health issued a communication to the HSE on 15 January 2021, informing it that the waiver was to cease on 22 January 2021. The HSE issued a communication to its own management teams. This information was also made available to all staff on the HSE website. Unrelated to the Covid waiver, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform issued further guidance in December 2022 which clarified the rules regarding pension abatement and the methodology for the calculation of same. The HSE, in turn, issued its own memo, 059/2024, in early 2024, outlining the content of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform guidance. As a result of this new guidance, abated employees are currently being assessed by the HSE for compliance.

All retired public servants who are re-employed by any public service body are subject to pension abatement rules. The HSE is obliged to apply the regulations that are in place and to calculate and apply abatement as laid down in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circular 24/2022 as of 1 January 2023.

I am aware that many retired nurses choose to work in private agency companies and can do so without any impact on their pension. However, the Department and the HSE are committed to reducing the reliance on the use of agency staff and to filling vacancies through direct employment in the first instance in order to build a sustainable workforce for the future. In fact, reaffirming this commitment was a major ask of all representative bodies during the recent WRC negotiations regarding staff.

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