Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I had the pleasure of being Minister for Health for four and a half years. I will leave that meeting to the current Minister for Health but I would be happy to hear about its outcome. These matters fall to the different parts of the public service and different employers. Anybody doing work as distinct from being in a clinical placement should be paid. When I was Minister for Health, student nurses were hired as healthcare assistants and were paid. Whether one is a teacher, dentist, nurse, midwife, radiographer - I could go on - placements in the public or private sector are part of the education system. I would differentiate between the placement as part of the necessary experience one needs to qualify and graduate versus the doing of work.

The Deputy referred to students having to give up part-time jobs. The Government has made a conscious decision that any student who has had to give up or has lost a part-time job should remain on the pandemic unemployment payment. There were calls from some quarters - certainly not the Deputy - for that to end. Those were calls that we did not heed. I am always happy to engage with students across a range of issues, including student radiographers.

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