asked the Minister for Health if he will offer to trained nurses who are in receipt of unemployment assistance work within the community on basic nursing care; if so, if they will be paid wages equivalent to their unemployment assistance payments; and if their unemployment benefit will be transferred to the Eastern Health Board for payment to them.
Written Answers. - Unemployed Trained Nurses.
784.
I presume that the question refers to trained nurses who are in receipt of either social welfare assistance or social welfare benefit. I also take it for granted that the Deputy is aware that I am not in a position to offer employment to any person on behalf of health boards or other health agencies.
The question raised has serious implications in regard to the statutory entitlement of persons under the social welfare code. It raises the wider question of whether all or most unemployed persons should be required to provide some service in return for the unemployment benefit or assistance provided by the State. It is not clear why nurses should be treated differently from the rest of the unemployed population.
The Deputy has not indicated whether she would see the arrangement being on a voluntary or mandatory basis and, if the former, whether the nurses in question would be subject to the same direction and control as other employed staff. Clearly staff organisations would be concerned in this matter and their views would have to be taken into account.
I must also point out the staffing constraints that obtain in the public service at present. Health boards and other health agencies are required to achieve a 5 per cent reduction in staff by the end of 1985, as compared with the position on 21 July 1981. The hiring of additional staff, albeit funded by money from the social insurance fund, would not be in accord with these directives to reduce the numbers employed in the public sector.