Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a former leader of a trade union in the education area, nobody should be out of pocket during their training other than whatever fees they pay for their course. If it is, for example, mandatory that you spend six months in St. Vincent's hospital, St. James's Hospital or somewhere and that incurs a cost of having to travel to and from home, we must remember they are students and not doctors. However, it is a double-edged sword here because when many of our doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and the like finish their training and qualify, the first thing they do is leave the country.

What is being asked is for the taxpayer to subvent someone who will emigrate and will take the expertise he or she has been given while he or she was here. There must be some sort of payback for the investment by the State when we talk about such top careers in the public service - and they are public service careers. I am not sure how this would be done but would be interested in having the representative organisations come before the committee although I do not know whether my colleagues would agree. Were the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, and the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, to be brought in here tomorrow morning, they would say they do not take responsibility for those people while they are students. A framework is needed to be put around this and I would be interested in hearing what their views are on how we might best benefit the State. At the end of the day, my heart is with the students and that they would get the best of everything to ensure they get the best qualifications. However, my head says that you and I and those who are watching this, that is, the taxpayers, cannot be in a position where we subvent people from taxpayers' money only for them to emigrate to get great jobs in other countries. That is a bone of contention everywhere in respect of those top professional areas.