asked the Minister for Health whether he is aware of the complaint made by the Irish Nurses Organisation that permanent nurses employed in the voluntary hospitals have no superannuation rights; and, if so, what steps he proposes to take to remedy the situation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Nurses' Superannuation Rights.
4.
The provision of superannuation benefits for the staffs of voluntary hospitals is primarily a matter for the authorities of those hospitals. The Minister for Health is concerned only to the extent that expenditure on superannuation schemes by hospitals participating in the scheme for grants from the Hospital Trust Fund towards revenue deficits may, if approved by the Minister, be reckoned towards the amounts of grant to be paid. In March, 1954, the Hospitals Commission at the request of my predecessor, Deputy Dr. Ryan, addressed a communication to each of the participating hospitals indicating the criteria which would need to be satisfied in order that such expenditure by hospitals might be allowed to rank as indicated. Broadly speaking, the standard contemplated was that laid down in the local government superannuation code. Of the 60 participating hospitals, twenty-two operate superannuation schemes.
What the Irish Nurses Organisation is seeking is a general, uniform, scheme applicable to all voluntary hospital nurses with the right to carry pensionable service into employment in another voluntary hospital or into employment in the local authority service. The introduction of such a scheme raises a number of questions which require careful consideration and which are at present under examination in my Department.
Would the Minister not agree that a situation in which only one-third of the voluntary hospitals provide superannuation rights for nurses is not very satisfactory? Would he agree to ensure that this whole question of nurses' superannuation will get immediate and urgent attention from him and his Department?
As I indicated, in 1954, Deputy Dr. Ryan addressed a memorandum to all the voluntary hospitals concerned inviting them to prepare superannuation schemes. A total of 22 have acted on that invitation; the others have not. The position in relation to the voluntary hospitals is that they are voluntary hospitals and I, as Minister for Health, have no control and cannot direct the authorities in these hospitals to prepare such a scheme. The matter has, however, been taken up recently with the voluntary hospitals by the Hospitals Commission and officers of my Department. I am hopeful I may be able to set up machinery which will secure for this question a more detailed examination than has been possible and which will enable me to put, perhaps, alternative proposals to the voluntary hospitals.