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

The central issue here is simple. When Covid hit, student nurses and midwives stepped up to the mark and went above and beyond the call of duty in the fight against Covid. Last year, under pressure from student nurses, from the left and from People Before Profit, the Government finally recognised they deserved to be paid and gave them the healthcare assistant rate of €14 an hour. However, then Scrooge-like it took the money back, offering only a pitiful €100 a week support, which is less than €3 an hour. Workers in our hospitals, caring for our families, our friends and perhaps even ourselves, are getting only €3 an hour for it. That is exploitation, pure and simple.

Student nurses and midwives should be paid a living wage for their work. It is the very least they deserve. Today, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has announced he will increase it by 12.5%. That is a consequence of the pressure from below because he knew the kinds of crowds that would be in front of Leinster House today demanding proper pay.

What about the others? What about the student nurses who are not in fourth year? There is still nothing for them.

That says a lot about the attitude of the Government towards the health service, which is to run it down and on the cheap as opposed to investing in a properly funded national health service. It says a lot about the attitude to those students who do work, which is not just limited to the health service and is across the board. Many students do work and all should be paid for it. Postgraduate researchers should be paid. This also speaks to the general attitude towards workers, paying lip service and empty sorts of thanks for the sacrifices of workers. What is reported is about the meanest thing possible for all workers, which is one bank holiday for one year. Even if we had one extra bank holiday every year we would still be below the European average. It is simply not good enough for all that workers have sacrificed.

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