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

The graduate nurses were always going to be afforded an opportunity in the system, for the very simple reason that already our health services and hospitals are understaffed and under pressure. The Tánaiste knows this. The difference the Government has made here is that it has cut their entry rate by 20%. The real irony in all of this is that it is not actually about cost savings because if the Government was serious about cost savings, it would move entirely away from agency nursing and directly employ people in the system.

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