Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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391. To ask the Minister for Health his views that current rates of payment and premiums for student nurses for intellectual disability, as per the Haddington Road agreement, are a contributing factor to the difficulties faced by the health services in retaining and recruiting graduates, his plans to revise these rates, the efforts made to accommodate the schedules of students who hold positions in part-time employment outside the parameters of their studies and placements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44838/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Pursuant to a "Chairman's Note" to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, the Department of Health and the HSE are to consider the issues of pay for student nurses during the fourth year 36 week placement with the nursing unions. This matter is the subject of direct engagement between my Department, the HSE and the nursing unions at present.

Student nurses participate in the 4th year rostered clinical placement as part of their degree programme and are paid in accordance with the trainee rates specified in the National Minimum Wage Acts for the duration of the placement. At present they are paid €6.49 per hour for the first 12 weeks of the placement, €6.92 for the second 12 weeks and €7.79 for the third 12 weeks. This equates to approximately 53% of the 1st point of the staff nurse scale. Mental health student nurses are paid 2.3% more, reflecting existing relativities between general and psychiatric staff nurse pay scales. When undertaking the placement, the students are not qualified nurses and require supervision. This is reflected in the 2:1 replacement ratio for student nurses replacing staff nurses.

The current rates of pay will be increased from the 1 January 2016, pro rata to the increase in the minimum wage for trainees announced in Budget 2016 and provided for in the National Minimum Wage Order 2015 (S.I. No. 442 of 2015).