Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On health, I suggest the Taoiseach start taking French lessons. In recognition of the heroic work of healthcare workers, the French Government have just announced an €8 billion package of pay increases for them because of their tremendous work in protecting people and French society in the face of Covid-19. Healthcare workers in this country have done work every bit as heroic to protect us all, to protect our society, and to prevent our health system from being overrun. As a consequence, they have suffered from some of the highest infection rates, in percentage terms, of healthcare workers anywhere in the world. Are we going to follow the example of France and reward them for that fact? They deserve it themselves for what they have done, but if the Government is going to establish the permanent increases in capacity that we have to have to do Covid and non-Covid care - to be able to deal with a second wave and to do all the non-Covid healthcare - we need permanent increases in capacity and that means large-scale recruitment. The big impediments to recruiting healthcare workers are the pay inequalities for new entrants and the low pay generally that nurses, midwives and some healthcare workers have to put up with. There is a double advantage in pay increases and pay equality for healthcare workers. First, it will record the heroes and, second, it will help us establish the permanent increases in healthcare capacity that we need to deal with the post-Covid world.

See this speech in context