The regulatory body for nurses has shelved a controversial plan to increase the annual retention fee to €150 this year, following a lengthy campaign by nursing unions.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, the statutory body which sets the standards for the education, registration and professional conduct of nurses and midwives, decided yesterday to keep the fee at €100 for this year.

It is understood it decided the €100 fee should remain in place for 2015 on the basis that unions would engage with it on multi-annual funding arrangements to apply in future years.

In a joint statement, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Siptu and the Psychiatric Nurses Association welcomed the move to restore the €100 fee. The three unions had contended that the planned increase would mean the retention fee for nurses would be significantly higher than that applying for other healthcare professional groups.

“The restoration of this €100 fee will retain the link paid by other health professionals to their regulatory body. As our three unions believe in a strong regulatory body that protects the public by ensuring nurses and midwives can practise safely, we renew our call for members to pay the restored fee of €100.

“The decision comes at the end of a lengthy campaign . . . to ensure their members are treated fairly by their regulatory body and not subject to increased charges in addition to the pay cuts and other measures, endured in recent years.”

The Nursing and Midwifery Board said it had taken the decision to restore the €100 fee in the interest of the safety of services and protection of the public to avoid a scenario where a large cohort of nurses and midwives who did not pay would not have been permitted to continue to work. It said a nurse or midwife who did not pay the full fee would not be registered and therefore not able to legally work in Ireland.

The board said it had decided at its special meeting yesterday to:

Amend to €100 the fee for 2015 for legal, logistical and practical reasons;

Enter into a consultation process with all interested parties in relation to a multiannual funding plan and work programme;

Restructure the planned programme of work for 2015 to match the reduced 2015 income, and

Formulate a strategy for communication and liaison with registrants, in particular those nurses/midwives who have already paid the increased fee.