Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will jump to my favourite topic of student nurses. What else would I talk about? The reason given for our inability to pay student nurses and midwives is the EU directive. However, every year 18 to 20 students in every class are sponsored by the Government to undertake nursing and they are paid a salary throughout the four years at a healthcare assistant level. How is that square with what the Minister said about the EU directive that does not for allow them to be paid or for those paid hours to count towards their training? If the issue is that they cannot be paid because of the EU directive, would it be reasonable to change the language and have a discussion about a decent bursary? In the UK and Northern Ireland, there is a bursary of £5,000 per year. They are out of the EU now but that existed before they left so if there is a will there is a way. Do we just need to change what we call it and then we could find a way forward?