Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It can be reasonably stated the closing date has passed and had to be extended because the young graduate nurses and midwives, who along with their union leaders briefed Members of the Oireachtas yesterday, made it absolutely clear they will boycott this scam. It is not a scheme; it is a scam. This was imposed without consultation. For all the Tánaiste's talk of the necessity for agreement and Croke Park nua, he is setting out in a very deliberate way to slash the wages of graduate midwives and nurses by 20%. These are not new jobs. It is very clear that 1,000 existing posts in the system will be displaced to bring in graduates and exploit them at 20% less than the rate to which they are entitled. The Tánaiste's claim that this will somehow stem the tide of emigration is farcical when one considers across the water in London a graduate nurse will earn £33,000. If one of our very qualified graduates decides to go further afield, he or she will earn the equivalent of €40,000 and more. Let us not play games.

I understood that whatever about Fine Gael's disposition, the Labour Party would be committed to a concept of equal pay for work of equal value. I understood this because the Tánaiste keeps telling us he respects the public service and the profession of nursing, but all of the evidence stands to the contrary. The Government is cynically engineering a situation where young highly qualified graduates will earn €22,000 a year. I need not say the contrast this makes with the Tánaiste's pay packet and that of many others throughout the public service and Civil Service.

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