Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing my time with Deputy Bríd Smith.

The Minister needs to increase significantly and quickly the pay of our nurses and midwives because otherwise the problems in the health service that relate to the recruitment and retention of nurses, which is already at a very serious level, will get even worse. The Government backed a campaign to get nurses to come back home, the "Bring Them Home" campaign. It spent €100,000 on a website to advertise the campaign. How many came back? It was fewer than 50.

Last year more than 50% of all the graduates left the country. Campaigns that do not get to the heart of the matter and do not deal with the issue of pay and conditions will not work. We will not be able to open new wings and increase the number of beds. How will we staff the children's hospital?

What needs to be done on pay? First, two-tier pay needs to be ended immediately. There have been pay cuts of 10% - more than €3,000 per annum. The pay cuts are only part of the story. What is the position with the allowances that have been cut? Nurses and midwives have seen the following allowances - most of which are pensionable - cut in recent years: midwifery qualification; registered general nurse in the community allowance; nurse co-ordinator allowance; specialist co-ordinator allowance for nurse tutors; nurses assigned to occupational therapy and so on. We read in the newspapers that the pay element will be addressed. What about the allowance element that also must be addressed? It should be done in one go in 2019 and not spun out over a number of years. It should include the reversal of the allowance cuts. Moneys that were taken from nurses should be returned and backdated.

It is not just about two-tier pay. In addition to the two-tier pay, there is a 12% pay gap between nurses on the one hand and other allied professionals on the other hand. It would take a nurse more than 15 years to reach the same pay scale and pay awards as an occupational therapist. In the Nordic countries a nurse's starting pay is €38,000. In Ireland the equivalent figure is €28,000. It is a global market. How can the Irish health service compete in a global market when there are gaps on that scale?

The Government needs to ensure the ending of the two-tier pay rate and return the pay and allowances taken from the nurses. They need to bridge that 12% pay gap. We need decent pay and justice for our nurses and midwives now.

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