Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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188. To ask the Minister for Health the steps being taken in advance of budget 2019 to improve nursing and midwifery recruitment and retention; the steps being taken to improve annual starting salaries for staff nurses and staff midwives in comparison to those of teachers and healthcare assistants; the steps being taken to ensure that Irish nurse and midwives' average weekly working hours are improved in line with those of their international counterparts; the steps being taken to ensure that Ireland can retain highly trained and skilled nurses and midwives as demand rises around the world due to the global shortage of nurses and midwives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40217/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Recruitment and retention of nurses remains a priority for this Government.

Last year, the Government concluded an overall Public Service Stability Agreement with public sector unions which sees very significant increases in public service pay, including for nurses. In line with that Agreement, in recent weeks, the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) concluded a review in respect of key health service grades, including nurses.

Their report made a number of recommendation which would benefit approx. 18,000 nurses -

- Qualification allowance, Location allowance and Dual qualification allowance increased by 20%

- Location allowance to be payable to those working in Maternity services

- Time frame to become a senior staff nurse reduced by 3 years.

Alongside the PSPC Report, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform also reached agreement with ICTU on the ‘New Entrant’ salary scale, which will benefit 60,000 public servants who entered employment since 2011. This includes about 10,000 nurses. The benefits under the measure will be effective from 1 March 2019 and will be restricted to Parties adhering to the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020.

It is clear that these measures will improve the overall pay package for the majority of nurses and midwives. They show that the Public Service Stability Agreement and the related negotiation process are delivering significant improvements for nurses.