Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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284. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to retain newly qualified nurses in the health service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37069/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Difficulties in recruiting nurses is not solely an Irish issue. There is an international nursing shortage. This is being experienced by other English speaking countries including the UK, Australia, and Canada. Our nursing training programmes are internationally recognised, making our nursing graduates very attractive to other countries.

Our health service has been through a particularly difficult period. We have had three years of spending cuts under the last Government and a three year spending freeze under this one. However, we have now moved from a time of retrenchment with the moratorium on public sector recruitment to a time of recovery and building for the future. With a recovering economy, the Health Service Executive is now in a position to offer a wide range of career opportunities for nurses and midwives.

There are many initiatives currently underway to improve nursing staff levels throughout the country. There were over 500 more nurses employed by the public health services in September 2015 than in September 2014. The entire graduating class of nurses in 2015 will be offered a full time contract. At the same time, nurses previously employed by the HSE on an agency basis are being offered full time contracts. The HSE is also actively pursuing recruitment in the UK and elsewhere.