Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are perhaps comparing apples and pears. How much someone is being paid elsewhere is not going to affect student nurses other than to inform them they are perhaps being paid a different amount. There is very clearly a problem. I have told the Minister before that the Union of Students in Ireland has research on this. The INMO and SIPTU also have research. There is ample quantitative and qualitative research on the current circumstances of student nurses and midwives, why they are unhappy and their experiences in the workplace. I would certainly support the Minister in doing more research but there is existing research on why students are dissatisfied. Pay is the number one factor, and working conditions also feature.