Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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389. To ask the Minister for Health his views on whether there is a need for accelerated nursing degrees similar to those available in the UK in order to address the shortage of applicants for nursing positions in the HSE and to attract mature students into the profession; if he has raised with the Department of Education and Skills the need for such degrees to be approved by the HEA and introduced in third level institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6793/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I would like to advise the Deputy that the 2016 Report of the Monitoring Group - Implementation of the Recommendations of the Report of the Review of Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Degree Programmesmade a number of recommendations. One of these recommendations proposed that graduate entry programmes be developed for those who have already attained degree level education in a relevant area. Subsequently, the HSE have commissioned a scoping exercise on the feasibility of developing a Mental Health Nursing Graduate Entry Programme. The report on the feasibility study is due at the end of March 2017. Subject to the outcome of this report, liaison will be undertaken with the Minister for Education and Skills and the Education sector.