Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Towards the end of last year I asked the Minister for Health the number of unpaid hours worked by our student nurses and midwives since the outbreak of the Covid virus here. I also requested a breakdown of the percentage of student nurses who worked in Covid-19-related care and for his views as to why so many feel so unappreciated that they opt to work abroad. The response indicated the Government's policy of downplaying the contribution these healthcare workers make towards our understaffed and under-resourced health services. Instead of answering these questions, the Minister opted to hide behind a comment on how reviews on nursing and midwifery were taking place. At the time I suggested that if the true extent of their contribution to keeping the poorly resourced health services afloat were clarified, the Government would be admitting to its own failure.

Today I want the Minister to hear the reality of what he tried to ignore. These are the words of a nurse who was working as a fourth year intern during the first wave: "I will either emigrate or return to college because it is not worth working as a nurse in this country because the government does not value my work nor my health." We know that students have been performing pandemic-related work with others, filling either staffing gaps or related work as part of placements in hospitals. As I speak there are seven fourth year students in South Tipperary General Hospital doing clinical placements. We are now demanding clarity on this and the extent to which it is beyond the requirements of their degree and that they are appropriately compensated. With this in mind, the Collins review of student nurse and midwife pay during the pandemic must be published immediately. Hiding behind unpublished reports in order to avoid acknowledging the long hours and the physical and emotionally draining work with which they are faced ends now. The decision to pay students lies with the Minister for Health. Suggesting they be paid €100 per week is an insult to those who are playing a vital role in keeping our health system functioning. This penny-pinching does not apply to the Department of Health Secretary General, for whom the Government has sanctioned an €81,000 pay rise.

To provide some context, I wish to return to the nurse to whom I referred earlier. She spoke of how she was paid even after having contracted Covid-19: "For all of that, I got nothing," she said. "An allowance of €50 per week and a travel allowance of 25 cents a mile paid two months after placement finished or, if you lived close by, nothing at all." The Minister can address this and must do so now. Vaccines started to be made available in Nenagh hospital after the staff shamed the Government into getting the programme running properly. That is an example of how an unacceptable situation can be resolved if the political will is there. This is why we are demanding an immediate assurance is given that the March pay agreement returns in order to pay fourth year interns at the healthcare assistant rate, to allow first to third years work on temporary healthcare assistant contracts and to ensure that those who do not take up temporary healthcare assistant roles are paid a fair intern allowance which recognises the work they do on placement. The Covid crisis does not wait for the Government to act; neither should our student nurses and midwives. I call on everybody here to support the Bill.

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