John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is worthwhile considering that there are lower levels of VAT on some fast foods, yet there will be 23% VAT on food supplements. I hope the Minister might consider that because it will have major implications for the businesses involved and for the individuals who rely on such supplements. I hope he can come to a speedy and positive conclusion on it.

On nurses' pay, I wish to highlight that psychiatric nurses are not doing overtime. The psychiatric service is pushed to the pin of its collar to deliver the type of services on demand required by people who turn up to avail of them. I have no doubt that the ban on overtime is going to affect that cohort of patients in a very negative way, just as much as those who have had operations cancelled and so on. After this there will be a significant buildup of issues to be dealt with in the context of patients and patient safety. All of us have been in and out of hospitals as patients or as visitors. This situation has gone on for a long number of years; it has not just happened now. Nurses are under serious pressure on wards and it is caused by lack of appropriate ratios of nurses to patients. I believe that some intervention has to be made by the Minister or by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris. The Minister has said that at some stage a point will be found to resolve the issues. That is a fact, but engaging with the nurses and talking about pay is part of that. I understand that I can say that and the Minister has a wider agenda to look after with a balance to be achieved, but at some stage this is going to give. There is public opinion behind the nurses and there is the determination of the nurses to see this through because it affects so many of them.

All I can do is encourage the Minister and the Minister for Health to acknowledge the differences in the hospitals and the differences in terms of the nurses and what they have to go through on a daily basis and to respond accordingly.