Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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349. To ask the Minister for Health his views on reviewing the pay for graduate nurses and restoring pay parity to all nurses on the new graduate nurses scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36594/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Under the Haddington Road Agreement, nurses participating in the Graduate Nurse Initiative are paid 85% of the starting pay of a Staff Nurse in the first year and 90% in the second year. In addition these nurses would also be in receipt of allowances and other premium payments. There are no plans to review these rates of pay. It is noted that the Agreement specifies that any subsequent appointment following completion of the Graduate Nurse Initiative will be to the third point of the staff nurse salary scales and that, under the Agreement, the January 2011 new entrant salary scales have now been assimilated with the scales applicable to those who were in the Public Service prior to January 2011.

A major objective of the Graduate Nurse Initiative is to put in place more cost-effective service delivery arrangements, having regard to the high rates of expenditure on agency staffing and overtime. The Initiative enables the health services to offer 1,000 graduate nurse positions for two years, at a time when job opportunities in the public service are very limited. Therefore it supports the retention of recently qualified graduate nurses and midwives within the Irish health system and enables them to gain valuable work experience and development opportunities post-graduation.