asked the Minister for Health if he will consider making assistant chief nursing officers eligible for nomination for election to An Bord Altranais in the forthcoming April elections; if they are at present ineligible for such elections, the justification for this; and if the matter can be reconsidered at this stage.
Written Answers. - An Bord Altranais.
120.
The rules for the first election of members to An Bord Altranais, which were presented to the Houses of the Oireachtas in January 1986, provide that the five administrative nurses to be elected should be at head nurse level.
I decided in favour of specifying head nurse level because of the method of election. The proportional representation system will apply. Use of that system would have had the potential to produce a situation where none of the five administrative seats would be filled by head nurses from any of the disciplines. I felt that it would be quite inappropriate to leave the way open for the establishment of a national nursing board without representation of the most senior administrative nurses among the elected membership.
In the circumstances, I regret that I do not consider it necessary at this time to adjust the criteria for eligibility for election laid down in the rules.