Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is absurd that one group of students should receive an allowance of €903.98 per month while, just because the Dublin hospitals have disentangled themselves from it and decided not to provide support, another group of students does not. We either have one system or we do not. Deputy Tuffy has highlighted an important issue. In 2009, the Dublin hospitals that received students from DIT decided to discontinue the payment, but that is not applicable to other hospitals around the country. There is a clear disparity and this is why the Minister has asked for a thorough examination of the issue and a report from the HSE with credible answers and proposals for addressing it. I hope that as a consequence of Deputy Tuffy's raising the issue the students will get answers at the earliest opportunity. It is not good enough that she is still waiting for a concrete answer despite having raised the issue last year.

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