Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I strongly urge the Minister to publish those figures so people can see for themselves to better investigate the situation and to compare it with Britain.

I have another question on the pay and treatment of nurses, who have been on the front line over the past while, along with other workers, in the struggle against Covid-19. We know that more than 8,000 healthcare workers have been infected, making up a huge percentage of our total infections, which is the highest rate in the world according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. However, they have not received any hazard pay. Too often, particularly in the earlier days, they were left without adequate PPE and still Covid-19 is not being treated as a workplace injury for those workers. Over the weekend, a clip was circulated from 2008, which the Minister probably saw, of the then Minister for Health complaining that nurses were well paid as new entrants. In fact, our nurses have been overworked and underpaid, not just during the crisis but well before it. That was why they had to fight for pay increases and for parity with other healthcare professionals, including in their strike last year. Does the Minister agree that at the very least, our nurses should get hazard pay during this crisis and that they deserve a raise into the future?

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