Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I am old enough to remember a month and a half ago when all Government Deputies united to vote down our motion to pay the student nurses and midwives. I remember, as I am sure the Government Deputies do, the public backlash against that decision. We had reports on that aspect of the matter from the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parliamentary parties, but I am not sure if we got one from the Green Party. My constituency colleague and Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, is reported to have said at the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting that even die-hard Fine Gael members believed that what the Government had done was "nasty and mean". I am sure the same was said at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting.

11 o’clock

I have a bit of advice for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party Deputies, and especially for those who suggested that in some way the decision the last time was a mistake. If they do not want to be seen as a nasty and mean Government then do not vote in nasty and mean ways. Vote to pay the student nurses instead of not paying them. Last March the Government accepted that student nurses deserved to be paid €14 per hour for their work, but now they are being told to live on €100 a week. How can that be justified? If anything, their work is even more dangerous and difficult during the current peak. There are 4,500 student nurses and midwives working day in and day out to keep our hospitals from collapse. They have had to give up their other part-time jobs to protect patients. How on earth does the Government expect them to pay their bills and cover their rent with €100 per week?

It is worth contrasting the treatment of the student nurses with the position of the Secretary General of the Department of Health who is getting a raise of nearly €90,000 per year while student nurses are expected to be happy with €100 per week. It sums up this Government of the rich for the rich. The Government has said that student nurses should be praised but not paid, applauded but not rewarded. According to the Government, nursing is a vocation, a good deed, and that this is a reward in itself. It is clear, however, that the Government does not take the same attitude to itself. The Government is not happy with claps or a vocation or pats on the back for itself. It rewards itself with very substantial pay.

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