Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1044. To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware that the extreme delays by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland in processing new registrations of nurses is having a serious and detrimental effect on the ability of many institutions to provide even the most basic services, in particular at nursing homes; the measures that have been taken in the past year to address this problem; the number of new staff who have been recruited to handle backlogs; the commitments he can make to alleviate the long delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31625/15]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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1062. To ask the Minister for Health to explain the reason for the delay in finding a resolution to enable the registration of nurses to work in the health service here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31727/15]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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1067. To ask the Minister for Health to explain the reason it is taking approximately six months for nurses who qualified out of the State to register with An Bórd Altranais; his views on whether this delay is causing difficulties for hospitals here seeking to recruit nurses from abroad, including Irish nurses who qualified abroad; the steps he will take to reduce this processing time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31739/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1044, 1062 and 1067 together.

Almost 1,000 applicants have been registered this year, the highest in many years, of which 459 were Irish-trained applicants. The number of applications received to the end of August was up 122% on the same period in 2014.

As things stand, there are 2,313 open applications, of which:

- 1,632 have documentation outstanding (70%);

- decision letters have issued in 272 cases;

- 55 have been approved and a fee is awaited by the NMBI; and

- 205 are waiting review.

The applications that have been submitted with incomplete documentation (70%) cannot be processed until full documentation has been supplied. For this reason a new helpline is being set up to assist people with their applications and deal with registration queries. An upgraded website is also being developed. The Department has approved the filling of 16 posts.

Seven adaptation programmes have been held for the nursing home sector since 2014 with two further programmes scheduled for this year, in order to allow overseas nurses to register in Ireland. Some 405 places have been made available so far on these courses. Only 312 of these places were used by the nursing home sector. There are places available on the next course due to commence on 28 September 2015.

In addition, an alternative to the adaption programme, that has been developed by the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery in the RCSI, has been approved as a pilot programme by the NMBI. The pilot programme is due to commence in the near future.

The Department continues to hold regular meetings with the NMBI on this matter in order to ensure that progress is being made. Organisations such as the NHI have been kept informed throughout and will continue to be informed of developments.