Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 2

Written Answers. - Registration of Foreign Nurses.

Michael Ring

Ceist:

465 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of foreign nurses who applied for registration here in 2000; the number who applied from January to September 2001; and the number of nurses who completed their training here in 2000, including the most up-to-date qualifications. [21414/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

An Bord Altranais is the statutory regulatory body responsible for the professional education and training of nurses. One of the functions of the board is the maintenance of a register of nurses. The number of non-national nurses who applied for registration with An Bord Altranais in 2000 is 3,375. This figure is broken down as follows:

General Nursing	2,979
Psychiatric Nursing	163
Mental Handicap Nursing	56
Midwifery	117
Sick Children's Nurse	50
Nurse Tutor	3
Public Health Nurse	7
Total	3,375

The number of non-national nurses who applied for registration between 1 January 2001 and 31 August 2001 – latest date up to which information is available – is 3,249. This figure is broken down as follows:

General Nursing	2,953
Psychiatric Nursing	133
Mental Handicap Nursing	35
Midwifery	80
Sick Children's Nurse	46
Nurse Tutor	1
Public Health Nurse	1
Total	3,249

In relation to the number of nurses who completed their training here in 2000, I presume the Deputy is referring to the number of pre-registration nursing students who completed the nursing diploma programme and sat the registration examination with An Bord Altranais in 2000. The number of candidates sitting the examination in 2000 was 997, of which 942 candidates passed, and 55 failed the registration examination.