andMrs. Hogan O'Higgins asked the Minister for Health when sanction will be issued for the creation of permanent public health posts recommended by the Cork Health Authority.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cork Public Health Posts.
7.
I assume that the posts referred to are permanent posts of public health nurse, seven of which are at present filled in a temporary capacity.
The normal procedure for the making of permanent appointments of public health nurses is open competition following advertisement of the vacancies. The Cork Health Authority have sought my approval, however, to a departure from the requirements of the Local Government (Officers) Regulations, 1943, to permit the seven nurses in question, who are employed in a temporary capacity, to be appointed to the permanent posts without competition. This concession has been sought by reference to a similar concession granted in 1956 to some district nurses, then employed in a temporary capacity, who were given permanent appointments as Public Health Nurses without competition. The circumstances in which this concession was granted were exceptional —the district nursing and midwifery arrangements were the subject of a major reorganisation at the time— and it was then made clear to health authorities that the concession could not be repeated. Accordingly, I propose to inform the Cork Health Authority that I am not prepared to approve of their proposal and that the normal procedure for the filling of such posts in a permanent capacity must apply. That procedure, I need hardly remind the Deputies, is designed to give equality of opportunity to all suitably qualified persons, including, in the present instance, those nurses who went to the trouble and expense of attending a full-time course of training in public health nursing conducted by An Bord Altranais.