Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the president of the INMO, Ms Martina Harkin-Kelly, and its general secretary, Ms Phil Ni Sheaghdha, with their colleagues, and I thank them for taking the time.

The Minister gave some analogies but he did not compare like with like. We all know there are pay agreements and the INMO is well aware that €300 million is not available to deal with the issue in one go. It is incumbent upon us, however, to lay out a pathway to that, but the existing industrial relations apparatus will not do that. Equality of status is an old adage that has been around for many years. The Minister gave a flawed analogy of the Defence Forces, which requires more fair pay, but he compared 17 weeks in recruitment training to the four years in professional development that nurses have done. There are no allowances for the mentoring that goes on for someone who has just qualified and is brought along to develop his or her confidence to be an autonomous professional, which could be addressed.

The Minister of Health, who was in the Chamber earlier, made reference to a constructive engagement yesterday. The word around the campfire, however, is that it was not constructive at all but rather superficial, and the attitude was one of, "We have nothing for you. What are you doing here?" I hope that does not happen in the coming weeks. A pathway needs to be developed to show that the State values a four-year degree course and the professionalism shown by nurses, and that they will be put on the same wavelength and in the same ballpark or league, to which they are entitled, as other allied healthcare professionals. It is incumbent on the House to lay that out. Existing pay agreements are not the apparatus for that, and something different is required.

I wish to put nurses' minds at ease. Earlier, colleagues suggested the establishment of an expert commission. If one casts one's mind back to 1998 and the commission for nursing that was set up then, one will remember smoke and mirrors with little outcome. We want a short period to professionally examine the issue in order to give nurses parity to which they are entitled similar to other allied healthcare professionals. If minor actions are to be taken, one which the Minister could take is to tell the negotiators not to be superficial in their engagement at the next meeting, but rather indicate that allowances will be provided for mentoring, as a small olive branch to a broader intention to give nurses and their professional qualifications the recognition they deserve.

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