Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I raise again the issue of eating disorders and the woeful lack of supports in place in Ireland. I do not know if any of the Members heard the report on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, which outlined the ghastly situation facing those suffering with an eating disorder in Ireland and the difficult position in which their families find themselves. Very powerful testimony was provided by CARED Ireland. If Members have the opportunity, I suggest that they listen back to it.

It was horrifying to hear that there are no national specialist public inpatient beds for eating disorders. There are three beds in St. Vincent's University Hospital but they are only available in that HSE catchment area. This means people in the rest of the country must be admitted for general or psychiatric beds or must go to the UK for treatment, either privately or through our State system. I do not understand how we are still in the position that we are sending people abroad for treatment that they should be able to get here. People and their families are needlessly suffering and people are dying. I ask for the Leader to invite the responsible Minister to the House to debate the issue.

The second issue I raise concerns pay for student nurses and midwives. I find it incredible that I am speaking on this issue once again. It is 28 June 2021 and the student nurse pandemic payment has still not been paid into the bank accounts of student nurses and midwives. That is incredible. The payment amounts to less than €3 per hour, so it is not exactly going to be a whopping amount. It is an absolute disgrace.

These students, who worked for free during the global pandemic, putting their own health and well-being on the line so that we and our loved ones could be safe, were promised that they would be paid on 31 January and then on 1 June. Does the Leader know what is happening with the payment? It is absolutely shameful behaviour on the part of the Government. I ask the Leader to write to the Minister for Health, on behalf of this House, to ask what, in the name of goodness, is happening with this promised payment. It is not good enough that these student nurses and midwives are now leaving their courses and going out into the workplace and they still have not received the payment they were promised. We heard very powerful testimony in this House in support of the payment of student nurses and midwives. I ask the Leader to write to the Minister to ask what is happening.