Seanad debates
Tuesday, 13 May 2003
Health Service: Statements.
In nurse training, for the first time in 21 years there has been an intake of psychiatric students in the Midland Health Board, with a recruitment of 32. In this Chamber a few years ago, in the presence of then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Cowen, I recall speaking on the re-commencement of psychiatric nurse training. On that occasion, the Minister did not have very good news for us. There was great difficulty in recruiting to the psychiatric nursing discipline. I am glad we have turned the corner in that regard, as evidenced by the recent intake of students to which I have referred. We have had two intakes of general nurses and I recently had the honour of presenting nurse graduates with their certificates. That was since this Government took office, with the college of nursing being established in Tullamore in tandem with the institute of technology. That is another success story.
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