The Psychiatric Nurses' Association of Ireland has warned the Minister for Health that it expects pay for members to be restored to a level comparable with the 44.8 per cent increase granted to childcare workers.
The president of the association, Mr Gerry Coone, has told Mr Martin that now that nurses are becoming a graduate profession, they would be seeking parity with paramedics. Pay inequities for nurses could not continue "without risking serious damage to the fabric" of the health services.
At the association's annual conference in Portumna, Co Galway, yesterday, Mr Coone told Mr Martin that as a result of the recent agreement with IMPACT, the Department had agreed to upgrade assistant house parents to childcare workers and increase their salary at the top of the scale to £27,060.
In contrast, a psychiatric staff nurse with "far more onerous" duties and higher qualifications could only earn £24,929. "The Government," he said, "must be warned that a new floor has been set for nursing claims before benchmarking."
Mr Martin said progress was being made in the recruitment and retention of nurses. Vacancies had fallen by 5 per cent and applications were up by 21 per cent. Training places were up from 300 to 1,500 and record numbers were being trained, "particularly in psychiatric and mental handicap programmes".