Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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173. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reasoning behind his Department’s decision not to honour the December 2015 agreement reached between the Department of Health, the HSE and the nursing unions; his views on the fact that this has created a significant anomaly whereby 2016 graduates are earning more than those who graduated in the previous five years; and his further views on the fact that this anomaly is contributing to recruitment and retention difficulties with nurses and a resultant high agency nurse bill. [27897/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Incremental credit for the 36 week clinical placement undertaken by 4th Year Student Nurses was abolished by the then Government in December 2010 as part of a range of measures aimed at reducing the public service pay bill. In the context of the Lansdowne Road Agreement it was agreed between management and unions that the issue of the 36 week incremental credit would be examined in relation to nurse/midwifery recruitment and retention. On conclusion of this process and deliberations with the Department of Health my Department agreed to sanction the restoration of incremental credit for the trainees currently on placement or who would in the future be assigned a placement. However the sanction also stated that the question of extending sanction to post 2011 nurses not in receipt of such credit may be reviewed on foot of consideration of whether the sanction granted would result in an increase in recruitment and retention rates of trainee nurses in 2016 and 2017.