Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to extend a welcome to everyone in the Gallery and commend Deputy O'Reilly on bringing forward this motion.

It is often said that nursing is a vocation, and of course it is, but primarily it is a job and a profession that requires a minimum of four years of work and study. Nurses are held up as paragons of virtue, and maybe that is also fair, but primarily they are workers and workers do not live on admiration. They live on their pay packets and on the goods, services and quality of life those pay packets provide. Nurses work very hard for their pay. They deserve our respect and that respect is best shown by a dedication to providing them with the best conditions in terms of their rights as workers and in terms of the system in which they have to work. Nurses have been let down badly by the present and previous Governments, which sought to exploit the image of nursing as a vocation and of nurses as paragons of virtue in order to cut corners. They have been let down by their pay, especially as trainees and newly registered nurses. They have been let down by the Government's tolerance of a healthcare system in disarray, which provides a chaotic, stressful and often unsafe environment for nurses. The priority for any employer should be the safety of its workers but nurses are expected to work long hours in the mess that is our health service, straining them mentally and physically and putting them at risk all too often.

Pay is not the problem but dealing with it is certainly a start. It is the first step in showing nurses that we value them as workers who play a vital role in our society. Members should not take my word for it, even though it is important. The numbers speak for themselves, as 500 vacancies exist right now in the mental health services. That is not to say there is a shortfall of 500 nurses but that there are 500 fewer nurses than provided for in the current standards, which fall short of the recommendations in A Vision For Change. This makes each nurse's job harder and makes the workplace less safe for that nurse and his or her clients. The reasons these vacancies exist are simple. After four years of hard graft as students, during which they are expected to work a considerable number of ward hours for no pay at all and no additional supports, why would anybody want to take a job here? They would work for less than €500 a week in a broken system in which things are only getting worse. The other options are much better for them. Abroad they can take on better pay and conditions and work in a healthcare system that treats them as workers of value, not saints to be abused. These are systems which are on the cutting edge of care, are public funded and are fit for purpose.

We need our nurses. It is clear they do not need us. It is time to act to address this imbalance. We are always told by the right that the high wages of chief executive officers in the public and private sectors are necessary to get the best people. Nurses are the best people and their pay must reflect that.

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