Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of student nurses in the context of what is happening in Naas General Hospital at the moment. In that hospital, which is my county hospital, 35 nurses and ten healthcare staff are not present due to Covid restrictions, so the existing staff are under huge pressure. Many concerns have been raised about the situation within the hospital itself, for example, within a block of toilets in the hospital where some are labelled "Covid" and others are labelled "non-Covid". The fact that people may be going into a toilet block where there are others passing in and out, using door handles etc. is quite frightening when we consider how contagious we know Covid is. I ask that the Leader would go to the Minister about this issue. I certainly will be raising it on a personal level. It is a very crucial situation there.

In saying that, the issue I want to raise relates to student nurses who have ongoing placements in hospitals. The whole country is very much relying on them, and they are taking exactly the same risks as the qualified nurses. They are not in a position to go and work in care homes, which they would have done before, but obviously because of the danger of cross-infection, that is something that is not allowed, and that is very understandable. I believe, however, that these student nurses, while they are on placements at this time, should be getting paid. It is something we should call for because equality of work and equality of pay for work is hugely important.