Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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110. To ask the Minister for Health in view of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland voting to increase the retention fee for 2015 from €100 to €150 (details supplied), if he is prepared for a crisis in staffing levels in the Health Service Executive in 2015 [38342/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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A new Nurses and Midwives Act was passed into legislation in 2011. The Act provides, inter alia, for the protection of the public in its dealings with nurses and midwives and the enhancement of their high standards of professional education and competencies. The Department of Health is responsible for oversight of the governance of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). The Department has no role in setting or approving registration fees.

The Board is an independent body, answerable to the Oireachtas, with the responsibility to ensure that it has the financial capacity to undertake all its legal obligations. The cost of enacting the additional requirements under the Nurses and Midwives Act 20141 was set out in the Regulatory Impact Analysis that was carried out prior to the enactment of the legislation. These costs include an enhanced regulatory process with supporting systems for continued professional development and certain education and training requirements for the professions.

It was also made clear at the time of the legislation that the Board would continue to be self-funding and needed to plan and cost how it would fulfil its legal obligations. Following detailed negotiations with the Executive and Board members in 2013 it was agreed in October 2013 that an initial once-off sum of €1.6m would be granted by the Department to the Board to cover 2013/2014 costs, but that the Board would have to increase its income in 2015 to undertake its commitments in the legislation. The Board of the NMBI made the decision to increase the annual registration fee at its meeting on 17th September, 2014. A helpline, email address and website information page have been made available by the NMBI to provide clarification for registrants who may have queries on this matter. Any potential implications for nurse staffing levels arising from the increase in registration fees will be kept under review by the HSE.