Vol. 527 No. 5
38 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to concerns expressed that nurses recruited from abroad for work in hospitals here are being poached by nursing agencies and, in some cases, being offered back to the original hospital at a greater cost; the steps he is taking to address this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28929/00]
A nurse coming to work here under the working visa arrangement is entitled to work anywhere as a nurse in the country. Nurses from abroad enjoy similar conditions to Irish nurses, and, like Irish nurses, many undertake agency work if they so wish. This, of course, is without prejudice to any contractual arrangement which an individual nurse may have entered into with a particular health service employer.
One of the main reasons for nurses opting for agency work is the lack of flexible working arrangements available at present. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a new scheme of flexible working arrangements for nurses and midwives in the public health service will come into operation on 1 February next. Under the scheme, individual nurses and midwives may apply to work between eight and 39 hours per week on a permanent part-time basis. A primary objective is to facilitate the retention of nursing staff for whom full-time work is not a realistic option. It is also hoped that the introduction of more flexible working arrangements will encourage nurses and midwives who have left the public health service, including those undertaking agency work, to come back into the workforce.
