Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 31 May 2005

Vol. 603 No. 3

Adjournment Debate.

Hospital Staff.

Mr. Deenihan

Yesterday, the Irish Nurses Organisation called on the Health Service Executive to take immediate action to resolve the ongoing nursing shortage being experienced by Kerry General Hospital. According to the organisation, the current shortage is so acute that hospital management depends on existing members of staff to work on their days off to ensure that some level of staffing is maintained. Despite the goodwill and co-operation of staff, wards are understaffed on a daily basis and, therefore, the level of care that can be given to patients is potentially compromised.

Kerry General Hospital is so under-resourced that it cannot conceivably continue to deliver the present level of service. Services will have to be curtailed if a commitment to provide additional nursing posts is not given. The industrial relations officer of the INO, Mr. Michael Dineen, said yesterday:

Our members within KGH are under severe pressure to deliver an appropriate level of care to the patients in their charge due to staff shortages. If the present position continues it will only exacerbate the difficulties being experienced as nurses will inevitably leave rather than continue to work in the current environment.

I fully support the INO's call for action to be taken in respect of this serious problem. It is unacceptable that nurses at Kerry General Hospital have to work under such stretched staffing arrangements. The nurses' level of commitment has been extraordinary, considering the demanding circumstances and constant pressures of their work environment. Services at Kerry General Hospital will be curtailed if the Health Service Executive does not provide the necessary additional nursing posts immediately.

The level of understaffing at Kerry General Hospital stems from the failure to take the need for a relief component into account when staffing arrangements were being made at the hospital. I understand that a hospital's nursing staff relief component is usually 25% of the total nursing staff level, which is 408 in the case of Kerry General Hospital. When one considers the need for a relief component, therefore, the hospital should have between 490 and 500 nursing staff. I understand that provision is made for a relief component at all other hospitals.

There will be no student nurses working at Kerry General Hospital this year, because the nursing diploma programme has become a four-year degree programme. Therefore, fewer members of staff will be available to cover for absent colleagues. A number of temporary staff have been made permanent. The relief component should be put in place to ensure that sufficient numbers of staff are available to cover annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave etc.

The hospital saved a significant amount of money by failing to provide for the relief component when it was determining staffing levels. As a consequence, however, it has to make considerable overtime payments to approximately 45 or 50 nurses each day. I understand that the recommendations contained in an independent review produced by Ms Betty Brady in November 2001 were never implemented. While an implementation group was established in 2001, it ceased to exist the following year when various changes were made in the 2002 budget and it became clear that it was impossible to invest extra resources in staffing.

There are major problems in the accident and emergency unit at Kerry General Hospital. The hospital's maternity unit needs to be extended. All sectors of the hospital are under pressure. I am sure the Minister of State will give us the HSE's line that the hospital has its full complement of nurses, but that is simply not the case. The INO would not have made such a strong statement if it were the case. The nurses at Kerry General Hospital are totally frustrated. On their behalf, I call on the Minister of State to act immediately to ensure that there are adequate staffing levels at Kerry General Hospital, just as there are at every other hospital in the country.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. T. O’Malley)

I thank Deputy Deenihan for raising this matter. I will respond to his comments on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. A nurse from Listowel who has worked in the United States for eight years recently contacted me in Limerick because she wishes to work as a nurse in this country. She qualified as a general nurse in the US and worked in cardiac services in New York. It is unfortunate that her qualification, which was accepted in New York, is not acceptable in Ireland.

Mr. Deenihan

She is a relation of mine.

Mr. T. O’Malley

I am delighted. I hope we will be able to work together.

Mr. Deenihan

Absolutely.

Mr. T. O’Malley

Under the Health Act 2004, which provided for the establishment of the Health Service Executive on 1 January 2005, the HSE is responsible for managing and delivering, or arranging to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Therefore, the HSE is responsible for nurse staffing at Kerry General Hospital. I am aware of the concerns raised by the Irish Nurses Organisation about nursing staff levels at the hospital. I have been informed that the southern area of the HSE has offered to meet INO representatives in the near future to discuss the hospital's staffing issues.

I understand that Kerry General Hospital is staffed in line with its authorised ceiling of 408 whole-time equivalent nurses. I have been informed that there is one unfilled permanent post. There are some temporary vacancies, however, as a consequence of sick leave, maternity leave and other forms of absence. Recruitment efforts are ongoing for temporary nurses. In the meantime, such short-term vacancies are covered from within the existing staffing complement. I understand that services in Kerry General Hospital continue to be delivered at normal levels.

The recruitment and retention of adequate numbers of nursing staff has been a concern of the Government for some time. Some substantial measures, including major investment in the training of additional nurses, have been introduced in recent years. The Tánaiste opened the new school of nursing at Tralee Institute of Technology, for which capital funding of €11 million has been provided, earlier this month. The school can accommodate 320 undergraduate nursing students. Annual revenue funding of approximately €4.5 million has been provided for such a number of students. The first degree students, who will graduate in the autumn of 2006, should help to ensure that there are adequate numbers of nursing staff at Kerry General Hospital.

Some of the measures taken by the Government in recent years have produced positive results at national level. There has been a net increase of more than 7,000 whole-time equivalent nurses since 1999. That represents an increase of 26% in the nursing and midwifery workforce in the public health service. The level of turnover of nursing staff has also declined. The most recent national turnover study, which covered the years between 1999 and 2003, showed that the level of turnover decreased by 40% over the five-year period.

I am confident that the extensive range of measures taken by the Government and the management of the health service, as well as the close monitoring and assessment of the situation on an ongoing basis, will continue to address effectively the nursing workforce needs of Kerry General Hospital and the wider health service.

Decentralisation Programme.

Mr. Callanan

I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this important matter and I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to respond.

The Government decided in December 2003 to decentralise the National Roads Authority and the Railway Safety Commission to Ballinasloe and some offices of the Department of Transport and the National Safety Council to Loughrea. While some progress has been made in respect of Loughrea — 114 civil servants have applied for the 51 jobs there — little progress has been made in respect of Ballinasloe. Just one of the 69 civil servants who have applied to be transferred to Ballinasloe is currently working for the NRA. No site has been finalised for the offices at Ballinasloe. I have asked on many occasions how many of those who have applied to be decentralised to Loughrea have highlighted Ballinasloe as their second choice. I believe that many civil servants have done so. I ask the Minister of State to give the exact figure, if possible.

Ballinasloe, which is in a RAPID area and has suffered many job losses in recent years, should be prioritised by the Government. It is a dream town for decentralisation because it has all the necessary infrastructure. It is on the new N6 route and on the main railway line between Dublin and Galway. It is served by the gas and broadband networks. It has low-cost housing.

It has three new playgrounds, a brand new state-of-the-art leisure centre, soccer, rugby, boxing and GAA facilities, three new hotels with planning permission pending, two recent hotels refurbished, a new secondary school with all modern facilities, a new gaelscoil which is almost completed, a new primary school at an advanced stage of planning, an extension to Creagh school which is at the other end of the town, proposals for incorporating sports facilities, with running tracks and pitches awaiting funding from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. It also has shopping facilities with Lidl and Tesco. It is just 15 miles from Ballinasloe where the institute of technology is located and it is close to Galway city.

Ballinasloe needs progress in decentralisation. There is so much Ballinasloe can do for itself but the Government can bring decentralisation to the town. I call on the Minister to proceed with the decentralisation programme to Ballinasloe and Loughrea.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food (Mr. B. Smith)

In the unavoidable absence of the Minister for Transport, I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond to the strong case made by Deputy Callanan. I am pleased to confirm that the decentralisation of Department of Transport staff to Loughrea is among the priority moves in the Government's decentralisation programme. This will involve the transfer of the road haulage functions of the Department of Transport from its offices in Park West, Dublin to Loughrea. The core functions of the road haulage division are licensing and enforcement. Licensing section is responsible for the issue of road freight carriers' licences and road passenger transport operators' licences. International section is responsible for the issue of community authorisations, permits, certificates of professional competence and letters of attestation.

The enforcement section enforces drivers' hours and licensing regulations. The Minister for Transport in the context of establishing a driver testing and standards authority has indicated his intention to add additional road safety functions to this authority. This could involve part of the road haulage functions.

The central applications facility has resulted in a positive response from applicants for this location. While neither the total numbers nor grades have been identified, the Minister for Transport is confident that finalising the moves will not present an insurmountable problem.

The immediate priority is to finalise a suitable location and construction of a premises. This work is being undertaken by the Office of Public Works. Once a premises is available, I expect no delay in completing the decentralisation process. It is expected that with the transfer of the road haulage functions to Loughrea, the Minister for Transport will take the opportunity to develop driver tester services and facilities which are available in the town.

The position in regard to Ballinasloe is less advanced as this has not been identified by the decentralisation implementation group as an appropriate candidate for an early move. The transport agencies identified for transfer to Ballinasloe are the National Roads Authority and the Railway Safety Commission. The primary role of the National Roads Authority is to secure the provision of a safe and efficient network of national roads. The primary role of the Railway Safety Commission is to foster, encourage, regulate and enforce railway safety and investigate and report on railway accidents. Both organisations include a significant proportion of professional and technical staff in their numbers and the level of interest expressed through the central applications facility system has been lower than was the case with the proposed moves to Loughrea. Nevertheless, the Department of Transport is continuing to work with both organisations to develop an implementation plan which will see the decentralisation to Ballinasloe as part of a subsequent phase of the Government's programme.

The rules of the central applications facility promised priority to those who applied before 7 September 2004. When the Civil Service has dealt with their applications, the applications received after 7 September 2004 will be processed by the Public Appointments Service. The process of issuing offers is due to commence shortly. To date, the central applications facility has not released any information in regard to applicants' second or subsequent preferences.

Grant Payments.

Mr. Penrose

I wish to share time with Deputies Wall and Paul McGrath. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter which is extremely important to so many livestock farmers throughout the country. It is particularly important in the midlands and in Westmeath, Longford and the adjacent counties.

The problem of which the Minister of State ought to be aware revolves around the proposed €80 million penalty that Irish farmers face in respect of their 2004 premium payments from the overshoot that occurred at the end of 2004 and which clearly arose from the change to full decoupling, which I supported and which came into effect in January 2005. Ireland made the decision to opt for full decoupling in October 2004, and it was as clear as the nose on one's face that livestock farmers would increase their special beef premium applications under the 2004 premium scheme. This put the cut off date at 31 December 2004, and with such a small window of opportunity to make the applications, the overshoot duly took place.

The Minister of State's Department estimates that the special beef premium overshoot will be 27% on the nine month special beef premium and 23% on the 21 month special beef premium. The cutback as a result of the overshoot will be imposed on livestock farmers who applied for more than 25 animals under the 2004 scheme. In financial terms, individual farmers are facing cutbacks ranging from €53 to €78 per animal, including extensification premium. These penalties will, in many cases, exceed the net margin per animal which a farmer might make and, therefore, effectively wipe out any anticipated profit for beef enterprises which are already under fierce financial strain and pressure. Why should people who applied for, say, 70 animals in 2002, 2003 or 2004 have a financial penalty imposed on them as a result of the special beef premium overshoot?

I have been informed that when Ireland opted for full decoupling, the former Agriculture Commissioner, Franz Fischler, made it clear that no country or individual farmer would lose out from the changes to full decoupling. What efforts have been made by the Minister of State and his officials on behalf of these farmers to ensure they are not penalised or that they do not lose out in any way?

The average farmer is likely to lose up to €4,000 per annum. I know a young farmer in County Westmeath who has tried to increase his herd for the past four years. He leased a shed and the cut in his case will be approximately €6,000. This is the thanks he is getting for trying to be progressive, for leasing sheds and buying additional land. It is a devastating blow to this bright, young, energetic and go-ahead farmer and to many more who are in a similar position throughout Westmeath, Longford and beyond.

What solution will the Minister of State put in place to deal with the overshoot problems to ensure that approximately 30,000 farmers will not be penalised? Has he discussed the problem with the new Agriculture Commissioner and, if so, how often? What was the outcome? Was it in line with the commitment given by Commissioner Franz Fischler that none of these farmers would lose out from a financial perspective? Will it be thrashed out with the EU Agriculture Commissioner, or will the Minister of State bring forward his own Estimate to ensure farmers who are already on their knees will not be punished further? I call on the Minister of State to take urgent action now in this regard.

Mr. Wall

I thank Deputy Penrose for sharing time. I met members of Kildare IFA on Monday and they expressed their major concerns that this will have a detrimental effect on farming in the county and the catchment area. I had a discussion with the Minister in the past couple of weeks on the uncertainty in regard to the sugar beet crop and this is a further death knell as far as these farmers are concerned. The average number of farmers leaving farming in recent years is frightening.

When these farmers met Commissioner Fischler in Goffs, in Kill, before decoupling began, they were promised no losses would be sustained by farmers as a result of decoupling. They cannot understand that, despite a number of meetings with the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the Commissioner, this matter has not been resolved. I ask the Minister of State to bring this matter to the attention of the Minister for Agriculture and Food. As I understand the new Commissioner is coming here next month, this matter must be resolved as a matter of urgency. Otherwise, there will be a further decline in the numbers of people involved in farming. There will be a further loss for mixed farmers in the midlands and there will be significant problems as a result of young farmers not taking up farming as a livelihood.

Mr. P. McGrath

I thank Deputy Penrose for sharing time.

As Deputy Penrose outlined, this difficulty arose from the introduction of the single payment which kicked in from 1 January 2005. The Minister informed me in response to a parliamentary question today that there was an increase of approximately 250,000 applications for various premia from the Department arising from the cessation of the payments. Heretofore, farmers knew how much they would be paid when they applied under the various schemes but many will lose a great deal of money under the new proposal. Deputy Penrose and I are aware of a young farmer who will lose €6,000 if the system kicks in, as outlined by the Minister of State. We know what is our salary and when we will be paid. However, farmers face a scenario whereby they will not be sure whether they will receive a payment and if they know, they will not be sure how much.

The Minister has kicked the issue to touch, even though it was clearly identified six months ago and forecast almost two years ago. It needs to be raised with the Agriculture Commissioner and a commitment must be secured that the €80 million involved will be paid to farmers. For example, farmers in counties Westmeath and Longford will lose between €3 million and €4 million.

Mr. B. Smith

Ireland implemented the single payment scheme in January 2005. The special beef premium scheme, with the slaughter premium scheme, were the only schemes under which the deadline for the receipt of applications was 31 December 2004. This meant that as many farmers as possible submitted their applications in late December 2004 so that they could benefit from the special beef premium.

Under the 2004 scheme, applications for in excess of 2.4 million animals were lodged, of which almost 1.4 million were quota animals, that is, first age and bull categories. The application figure in each of the previous three years was 1.9 million animals. During December alone, applications in respect of 930,000 animals were submitted, compared to 600,000 during December 2003. More than 300,000 animals were applied on during the final two days of December.

The background to this issue is that under the special beef premium scheme each member state has an individual national ceiling or quota. Ireland's quota for 2004 was 1,077,458 animals. This quota is in respect of animals submitted under the first age and bull categories, as there is no quota for second age animals. However, Article 4.4 of Council Regulation EC 1254/1999 requires that a proportionate reduction be applied to the second age category where the national ceiling is breached.

Following discussions with the farming organisations in late 2003, it was decided that any overshoot reduction would not apply to the first 25 animals submitted by individual farmers. It is important to stress, therefore, that this decision, which was taken to assist small-scale producers, means that a farmer who applied for premium under the 2004 scheme in respect of a total of 25 animals or less will not suffer a reduction. In addition, all other farmers will be exempt from the quota reduction on their first 25 animals.

Mr. P. McGrath

Will there be a reduction for the rest?

Mr. B. Smith

Following the submission of the unprecedented number of applications, the Minister took immediate steps to ensure applications were processed promptly and payment made to farmers as quickly as possible. I am satisfied this objective was met. The following were included in these measures to achieve these objectives: the implementation of procedures which resulted in the timely return of passports to farmers to allow them to dispose of their animals after the end of the retention period if they so wished; the processing of applications went ahead simultaneously in an efficient and effective manner.

As a result, my Department, despite the number of applications received, commenced advance payments on these animals in early March; the decision taken to estimate the special beef premium scheme overshoot reduction which enabled the balancing payments to be made to special beef, suckler cow and slaughter premium applicants. These balancing payments commenced in April 2005 and, consequently, farmers received payments in respect of the three schemes two months before they would otherwise have received them.

I refer to the impact of the overshoot reduction. The decision to opt for full decoupling was arrived at following careful consideration of all options and following a widespread public consultation process. A persuasive factor in this process was the suggestion that farmers in those member states who fully decoupled would not be disadvantaged during the transitional period. The level of the overshoot of the regional ceiling is attributable to the ending of the special beef premium scheme in 2004 and application patterns, both in terms of total numbers of animals applied upon and the timing of lodging of applications, strongly suggest this to be the case.

As has been made clear on numerous occasions, we are seeking a solution to this issue and will continue to do so with the European Commissioner. The Minister has raised the issue with the Commissioner on a number of occasions during recent meetings. My Department forwarded a detailed submission to the European Commission dealing with this matter last month. The matter has been discussed with the Commissioner's cabinet and with the most senior officials of the European Commission. Arrangements are being made for a meeting between my officials and the various services of the Commission's DG Agri. All aspects of the difficulties encountered by Irish farmers and all potential solutions will be explored during these discussions.

We have availed of every opportunity to press the European Commission for an appropriate solution to alleviate the difficulties encountered by beef farmers in Ireland as a result of the ending of the special beef premium in 2004. I assure the House that the Minister will continue to pursue the matter with the Agriculture Commissioner and Commission officials.

Mr. P. McGrath

Does the Minister of State expect a positive outcome? Do I see a nod?

Education Schemes.

Mr. Boyle

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue. The matter refers to the question of supports and, specifically, the back to education allowance scheme, which is successful, despite recent changes to qualifying criteria whereby one must wait six months to avail of the scheme. My purpose in raising this matter is to highlight certain categories of people who are deemed to qualify for the back to education allowance.

I tabled a question to the Minister for Education and Science in March and, in her reply, she stated the categories of people are as follows: those who hold EU nationality; those who have official refugee status; those who have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State; those who have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to an Irish national residing in the State or who is the child of such a person and not having EU nationality; those who have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to a national of another EU member state who is residing in the State and who is or has been employed or self-employed in the State or who is the child of such a person having EU nationality; or is a national of a member country of the European economic area or Switzerland.

That is an all-embracing list but society is ever-changing and many thousands of people have sought status under asylum and refugee laws and international conventions. However, in the absence of a proper immigration policy, they are forced to wait and do nothing while in receipt of one direct payment of €19.10 per week, which is low. This is not recognised as a qualifying payment according to the current criteria for the back to education scheme. I ask that it be considered as such a payment.

If the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is to be taken at his word, the parents of children born in Ireland prior to the passage of the latest citizenship Act are likely to be granted status in the near future and many thousands will fall foul of this criterion if their cases are not reviewed in the near future. The next difficulty is that once status is achieved by a person, the six-month qualifying criterion for the back to education allowance will kick in and, depending on when status is granted, it may not coincide with the academic year, about which the Minister of State and the Government should be aware.

Allowing more people in these categories to qualify for the back to education allowance would save the State money in the long term because, otherwise, their only prospects would be for unemployment, the longer they remain in the State and the longer they must readjust once a decision on their status has been taken. It is inhumane not only to restrict such people to spend most of their days in accommodation centres and refuse them the right to work but to further restrict them from accessing education, which can be gained at a low level in many colleges of further education.

I have been asked specifically to raise this case by Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa College of Further Education which sees its remit as not only serving the wider community but serving the community at its widest. I was once proud to be associated with the chairman of its board of management. We must recognise the reality of the new Ireland. I have also been asked to raise this issue by the Cois Tine, an organisation which provides support for asylum seekers and refugees in Ireland in so far as it can and the system allows.

The requests are simple — make the €19.10, poor payment as it is, a qualifying payment and apply it payment directly; even when people are granted status, do not allow the six month period to kick in and make use of not only the people who are willing to make themselves available for further education and subsequently for higher qualified employment, but the people who are waiting for decisions on their futures and the lives of their families. Give them something to aspire to and to occupy them while the State gets its act together in making decisions on this matter.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science (Miss de Valera)

I propose to answer the question in respect of the role of the Department of Education and Science in this matter. In the further education sector, persons in the following categories may participate on courses offered by vocational educational committees, namely, EU nationals, persons who have refugee status in Ireland, persons in the State as the spouse of an EU national where the EU national has moved from one country to another within the EU to work, persons who have been granted leave to remain in the State on humanitarian grounds, persons who have permission to remain in the State as the parents of a child born in Ireland and applicants for asylum who have been granted permission to work under the terms of a Government decision of 26 July 1999.

The arrangements to be applied to non-nationals provide that asylum seekers with an entitlement to work — those who entered the country before 26 July 1999, who have been waiting at least one year for a determination of their cases and are in possession of a notification of their right to work from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform — may be treated on the same basis as Irish nationals in terms of access to vocational training programmes within the further education sector. Part-time courses in adult literacy and English language supports may be offered by VECs under the adult literacy and community education scheme to persons who are applicants for asylum who do not come under the categories I outlined. Such persons who do not have an entitlement to work may avail of free access to adult literacy, English language and mother culture supports only.

Regarding eligibility for student support, the main conditions of the Department's free fees initiative are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold EU nationality or official refugee status and have been ordinarily resident in an EU member state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course. Official refugees are eligible on the same residency terms as Irish nationals. Asylum seekers are not eligible under the free fees initiative. The Department provides financial support under three third level maintenance grant schemes and one maintenance grant scheme in respect of post-leaving certificate courses. Under the terms of the schemes, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, means testing and previous academic attainment.

The nationality requirement applies equally under all schemes and requires that candidates must hold EU nationality, have official refugee status, have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State, have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to an Irish national residing in the State, or be the child of such person, not having EU nationality, have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to a national of another EU member state who is residing in the State and who is or has been employed or self-employed in the State, or be the child of such a person, not having EU nationality, or be nationals of a member country of the European Economic Area, EEA, or Switzerland. Asylum seekers are not eligible to be considered for grant assistance. However, candidates who have been awarded official refugee status or humanitarian leave to remain in the State are eligible to be considered for grant assistance on the same basis as Irish nationals. I am aware that barriers to access to further and higher education was one of the issues that arose during consultation on the education response to the national action plan on racism.

Following recent discussions with the Reception and Integration Agency, my Department has agreed to establish a steering committee to examine further the Department's response to the educational needs of newcomers to Ireland. A group has been established under the chairmanship of a senior Department official and will comprise representatives of all relevant divisions of the Department. The group will review the Department's response to the education of newcomers to Ireland, identify emerging issues relating to the education of newcomers, propose solutions to the issues identified and arrange for their implementation. One of the group's primary roles will to be liaise closely with the Reception and Integration Agency of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on educational matters relating to refugees and asylum seekers.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.05 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 June 2005.