Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's response is again emotion over the facts, which is the typical conduct of populists, and it in many ways proved the veracity of my response. I set down five facts and the Deputy questioned none of them. The way he spoke almost implied that he was talking about a Sinn Féin motion but it was not. It came from People Before Profit and Sinn Féin had little or no role in it but it is trying to take over the issue for political gain.

As I mentioned, the vote last week was on a non-binding and unfunded motion. Had it passed, it would not have been worth a euro to a single student nurse. Public pay is negotiated between the Government and unions. That is the way it is done and that is the way it should be done. Student nurses are paid for their fourth year. We paid student nurses in their first, second and third years during the pandemic as healthcare assistants because we thought hospitals might be overwhelmed. Thankfully, they were not and they are not now. We pay the pandemic unemployment payment to student nurses who were asked to give up jobs in nursing homes.

It is not the norm for people doing a degree course to be paid for their years as students. It is the case for apprentices and cadets but not for people doing a degree course.

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