asked the Minister for Health whether he is aware that the salary of general trained nurses employed in Killarney Mental Hospital is inadequate and whether he will consider the matter with a view to increasing their present salary substantially.

The question of the revision of the salaries payable to general trained nurses in Killarney and other provincial mental hospitals has been under consideration and a circular letter authorising the application of an improved salary scale has now been issued.

andMrs. Reynolds asked the Minister for Health if he will consider placing all mental hospital staffs throughout the country on a similar scale of salary as the staffs of Grangegorman and Portrane Mental Hospitals.

asked the Minister for Health whether he is aware that mental hospital staffs throughout the country who do the same work and carry identical responsibilities have different conditions of employment, including salary scales with a difference of £50 at the maximum; also that it takes only four years to reach the maximum of the scale in Dublin while it takes 12 years in the rest of the country, and whether, in the circumstances, he will have this matter examined, with a view to remedying the grievances and putting all staffs on the same scale.

With our permission, a Chinn Chomhairle, I will take Question No. 62 and Question No. 63 together.

I assume the Deputies are referring to the nursing staffs of district mental hospitals. The scales of remuneration of the nursing staffs in the provincial mental hospitals were the subject of a careful review as recently as 1947 when revised scales were introduced and since that date these officers have, in common with the general body of local authority employees, received an upward revision of their remuneration by way of bonus. I do not feel that I would be justified in present circumstances in agreeing to a further upward revision for these officers in isolation from the other classes of local authority officers for whom I am responsible.

Is the Minister satisfied that the staffs, apart from those in Grangegorman and Portrane, are sufficiently paid having regard to the extra number of years it takes to qualify for a permanent appointment in these hospitals?

I do not think the members of the mental hospital staffs are any better or worse paid than the other officers in the local authority service for whom I am responsible. In the circumstances, I think that there is no need at the moment for a review of their conditions of service.

Why is it that there is differentiation between the various mental hospitals down the country and those in Dublin—£50, I think on the maximum? In Dublin they reach the maximum in four years; and in the country it takes 12. They have the same work to do and the cost of living in Ballinasloe and Sligo is just as high as it is in Dublin. I think the staffs in the mental hospitals down the country deserve better treatment