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

On 20 October, I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of student nurses and the fact that they are working during a pandemic where they cannot do other jobs for the most part, certainly in other healthcare settings, and are working long hours on the front line of the Covid-19 effort and not being paid. That is scandalous. In that engagement the Taoiseach, who obviously was not scripted on it, said that it was wrong that they were not being paid in the same way as they were in March and April and that he would follow up on it. Since then it is clear that the follow-up is that he is not going to pay them. I want to tell him that there is fury about that. A total of 250,000 people watched the video of that exchange between the Taoiseach and myself, while 120,000 have watched the exchange on the same issue between myself and the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I want to apologise to the student nurses. I got so many messages from them I cannot reply individually but I will give the Taoiseach a flavour of the sort of messages I am getting. One second year nurse worked six weeks on placement. She worked four days a week in the Rotunda Hospital from 7.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. She also had a job in retail at the weekend where she was being paid absolutely nothing. She worked two weeks in a gynaecology ward from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. and was not paid a penny.

She points out that for the privilege of working on the Covid front line for nothing, she must pay €3,000 per semester. Therefore, not only does she not get paid for being at the front line in a pandemic, but she must also pay for the privilege, as must all the other student nurses.

What is happening is an absolute scandal. Is the Taoiseach going to pay these student nurses, who are holding the front line when, according to Mr. Paul Reid, 2,000 healthcare workers, mostly nurses and midwives, are out sick because of Covid? We are relying on them more than ever in the battle against this pandemic.

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