Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thanks very much, Acting Chair, and I thank the Minister of State for coming to answer my question. I know it is not his area of responsibility so he can only give me what he has been given. A number of student nurses have contacted me who are in third year and doing their student placement. There was a big announcement that student nurses would receive €500 each and they would receive travel assistance. There are two problems with the system that has been set up, according to the nurses who have been in touch with me. The first thing is they only get the €500 if they have worked in trauma wards or wards during the pandemic where people were being treated for the virus. If they have worked in average wards, they do not actually qualify for €500 and this is what they have been told. This is slightly different from what was announced initially, that all student nurses would get €500.

The second thing is, in terms of their travel assistance, they must own their own car and show from their car log that they own their own car and drive themselves to and from the hospital or wherever they are based. The thing is that many of them are maybe dependent on friends or family to drive them to and fro. They are only student nurses and do not own their own vehicles so it has become an issue. They, equally, do not qualify for the travel allowance.

I am not sure if the Minister of State is able to answer those questions for me today, but these are issues that have been put to me by student nurses. Many nurses train in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, and it is the students who are in their third year of nursing there who have come to me with these issues. I thank the Minister of State and look forward to his response.