Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about a different issue now but I am very happy to talk about it. There are two separate issues. One is whether students are being asked to do inappropriate activities while on their clinical placements. Various testimonies have been read out in the Dáil and various students have given testimony in the media and online. As Minister for Health, I take those allegations deadly seriously. I have initiated a full review of all of the allegations. I am meeting with all of the directors of nursing on these allegations. There cannot be a situation where these students are being treated as workers. It is imperative, as part of their degree education, that they are full-time students. In first, second and third year, they spend the majority of their time on campus. The HSE provides clinical placements where they can link theory and practice. I can tell the Deputy that their educators are strongly opposed to the idea that they would become part of the paid workforce in the HSE. In essence, their argument is that they want to protect them as students and protect their learning, and if we start paying them as workers in a system, they could be treated as such.

As the Deputy will be aware, I am seeking a short review, to be finished by the end of this month, in co-operation with the representative bodies, to look at the allowances for student nurses. We want to see if we can increase the allowances during the Covid period to reflect what is a very difficult time. If such a recommendation is made, then I have committed to the students and I have committed to their representative organisations, in writing, that those increases in allowances would happen from January.

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