Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Nobody in the House denies the Minister has a difficult job. I particularly notice accusations from the Opposition and his own Government Members that are not truthful and that could be extremely frustrating for the Minister. I heard a Member from the Opposition state we are at the bottom of the European table when it comes to vaccination, which is not true, and a Member from the Government - the Minister's own party - stated that vaccinations are only happening from Monday to Friday, and again that is not true. I know that in the Minister's position, he must battle through many political accusations and misinformation.

However, I know if the Minister were standing where I am now, he would make the exact speech I am about to make. I know if he were still in his role as part of the Opposition, he would not find any way to justify the treatment of student nurses and midwives. I know he would rail against it. I know he would connect the new pay deal for the Secretary General at the Department of Health with this matter. I know he would probably pick up the speech the Minister would have just made and dismiss it out of hand as being tone deaf to the reality of the work being done by those who are putting their health and lives at risk.

The Minister does not need to be reminded of this but I will do so anyway. Yesterday, 93 people were recorded as having died from this virus.

The youngest was 41 years of age, and yet student nurses and midwives are working in this scenario for poverty pay.

My Labour Party colleague, Senator Hoey, has published a Bill, the intent of which is to link the pay of student nurses and midwives to the rate paid to healthcare assistants in recognition of the increased workload and risk. The INMO has also called for healthcare assistant contracts for all students whose placements were suspended and clarity on what will happen to placements over the coming months. The Minister mentioned his own review, but as the INMO has stated, it is quite clear that this review is out of date and is not going to cut it. It is not good enough. The Minister would not accept it if he was in my position, and the student nurses and midwives should not accept it either. They need to be paid at the healthcare assistant rate to reflect the higher levels of risk in the health service, as proposed in the Labour Party Bill.

There are other outstanding issues that need to be addressed, including the fact that nurses are being asked to pay for the privilege of renewing their membership of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, NMBI, for 2021. I put it to the Minister quite baldly that we are all being told that we are in this together, that all of the old received wisdom and legacies are being challenged, and that there is nothing that will not be done to address the situation, but that patently is not true.

I wish that student nurses and midwives had the same power as other lobby groups who seem to be able to influence Government policy. I wish they had the same power as the hospitality industry and that they had the ability to change completely the methodology and mechanisms being used by the Government to address this problem. I wish the Minister had bent the advice he got from within his Department to facilitate student nurses as he did to facilitate hospitality and home visits simultaneously in December. I wish that student nurses and midwives had the same power as the private hospital sector, which seems to be a sacred cow in this country and one that must be pussyfooted around. Robust engagement with that sector seems to be impossible for some reason.

Apparently people like me, standing where I stand, just do not understand the complexity of the situation, how delicate and difficult it is or the fact that it is not at all simple. However, when it comes to student nurses and midwives, the Department conducts a review, which is already out of date, and recommends a payment of €100 which it believes will suffice. At the same time the Department believes that the new Secretary General of the Department of Health is fully worth an extra €81,000. None of this adds up.

The problem here, as far as the Irish public is concerned, is that there is a deep unfairness at the heart of all of this. When it comes down to it, for those on the front line who are putting their own health and lives at risk as well as the health and lives of their families, there is a barrier or a line which the Government will not cross, unless it involves rounds of applause.

I know that the Minister for Health would be saying the very same thing if he was standing where I am standing now. I have some advice for him from his friends and colleagues in the Labour Party. I suggest that he thinks of the speech he would make if he was still an Opposition health spokesperson.

I suggest that he realise the depth of feeling regarding this issue within hospitals and healthcare settings and among student nurses themselves. I ask him to reflect on how embittered people are and on the length of time for which this issue will affect their mindsets as they look forward to a career in this area. I also ask him to reflect on the amount of money this would actually cost in the overall scheme of things. I ask him to reflect on how he can justify the pay increase of €81,000 for the Secretary General of the Department of Health and on the reasons he has given for this increase, which include that the job is difficult, high-powered and responsible. Reflecting on that, he might consider how those superlatives and adjectives might apply to the role of the student nurses and midwives who are asking to be paid and how they will have to register this year and pay for that privilege. I ask him to reflect on all these matters.

I know, as the Minister knows, that these things are not simple and that it would take some manoeuvring and action on his part but, if anything has been proven over the course of this pandemic it is that if Government really wants to do something it can do it. What I learned from my time in government is that, when a group is important and strong enough and when the political will is strong enough, anything can be achieved. The problem is that the will is just not there. Perhaps this is because departmental officials are advising the Minister that this may set an unwanted precedent and that it may open a Pandora's box that it would not be possible to close but, in the fullness of time when this pandemic is over, this will be a black mark on the Minister's own record and that of the Government. It will be felt that when it came down to it these people were just not worth more than €100. If the Minister was standing where I am, he would be saying the exact same thing.

The Labour Party supports this motion. We have not just been drafting motions, but have published legislation. We want these payments to be given so that these people can have the dignity they deserve and we want the Minister to live up to the rhetoric he used in opposition now that he is in his current position. I ask him not to stand behind speeches which he would have decried if he were standing where I am.

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