Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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254. To ask the Minister for Health the measures his Department and the Health Service Executive will introduce to safeguard the qualifications of graduating midwives who will not meet the EU standards as a result of not being offered the one year work experience as a registered midwife required in the EU thereby precluding them from seeking work in an EU State which many of the graduates are considering due to the moratorium; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20717/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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EU Directive 2005/36/EC on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications provides a mechanism for the recognition of professional qualifications in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. Where registration is a legal requirement in a member state, qualification recognition is usually a pre-registration step. Automatic recognition of the qualifications of midwives applies under the Directive under certain conditions. This includes nurses who have undertaken the eighteen month post-graduate degree programme followed by certification of one years professional experience during which the applicant has pursued all the activities of a midwife in an approved hospital or health care establishment.

Where automatic recognition does not apply, midwives may apply for qualification recognition under the general system of the Directive. The general system provides for an assessment, on a case-by-case basis, of the qualifications of an applicant against those required to practise in the host member state. If the activities covered by the profession in the home and the host member state are not comparable, then the qualifications cannot be recognised. If the activities are comparable but deficits in the qualifications are identified, subsequent post-qualification professional experience of the applicant must be considered. If deficits still remain, the host country must offer an applicant a compensation measure i.e. a choice of completing an adaptation period or taking an aptitude test. Nurses who do not have the required clinical practice experience are entitled to have their application for qualification recognition considered by the relevant competent authority in the State to which they are moving under the general systems provisions of EU Directive 2005/36/EC.

I would like to draw the Deputy's attention to the graduate nursing initiative recently launched by the Health Service Executive which is also available to graduate midwives. This provides an opportunity for graduates in midwifery to gain two years clinical experience which would entitle them to automatic recognition under the Directive.