Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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Petition No. 66 of 2022 is entitled Create a Health Services Student Allowance and is from Mr. Joel Rajesh. This petition relates to the petitioner's concern that healthcare students in Ireland face substantial costs in relation to placements at HSE public hospitals including meals, subsistence, scrubs purchase, laundering, accommodation etc. An allowance scheme to help with these costs now exists for student nurses but does not exist for student doctors, radiographers, dentists, pharmacists, or physiotherapists. A universal health services student allowance would relieve a massive financial burden for these students and would make retaining these future graduates within the health service easier.

Students are often unemployed during term time and rely on family contributions and these measures could help with recruitment and retention of public health service staff. The petitions case manager corresponded with Ms Bernie McNally, Secretary General at the Department of Education and Mr. Ray Mitchell, assistant national director of parliamentary affairs at the HSE on 13 March 2023 and then with Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General at the Department of Health and Mr. Jim Breslin, Secretary General at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on 15 March 2023. Mr Breslin replied on 27 April 2023. The committee recommends the correspondence from Mr. Breslin be forwarded to the petitioner for information. Do members have any views on that?