Danny Healy-Rae condemns €100 pay for student nurses
Danny Healy-Rae spoke about pay and conditions for student nurses, arguing that a proposed €100 payment is not adequate. He urged the minister and the government to provide fairer remuneration and respect for nurses who consider the role a vocation.
Opening remarks
Danny Healy-Rae thanked Sinn Féin for the opportunity to speak and described nursing as more than a career - a vocation deserving fairness and respect.
Pay and living concerns
He criticised the suggested €100 payment as insufficient, noting accounts of student nurses having to choose between bus fare and food and saying such pay is not fair.
Training demands and trauma
He detailed the range of cases student nurses face in clinical placements - cancer, heart and respiratory problems, and accident casualties - and said the emotional impact can be traumatic as confidentiality limits who they can discuss this with.
Comparison with other apprenticeships
He contrasted student nurses with trades apprentices such as plumbers, plasterers, mechanics and electricians, saying those trades receive apprentice pay while student nurses do not receive comparable compensation.
Appeal to the minister and government
He appealed directly to the minister and the government to listen to the motion, to stand up for student nurses, and to recognise their sacrifices during COVID by providing adequate payment and support.
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I want to thank Sinn Fein for giving us the opportunity. First of all, I have to say that nurses, boys and girls, young boys and girls, when they choose this role to become a nurse, it's more than a career, it's a vocation, and they do deserve fairness and respect. A hundred euros for a young nurse and their work so demanding is not fair. We hear stories that they have to choose between the bus fare or food, many of them, this is not right and we can't allow this to continue. All the trades, plumbers, plasterers, mechanics, different electricians, they're all getting paid as apprentices and when we see what student nurses have to go through, they have to work with all the different health problems that present them, patients present with cancer, heart problems, respiratory problems, and those who get broke up or come in mangled after an accident and then it must be very traumatic for these young nurses to see people dying actually in their arms or when they're dealing with them, very traumatic. And they have to go home and keep this all within themselves because they can't, confidentially, doesn't allow them to discuss it, discuss their job or their work with family members or other people. So I'm pleading with the minister and the government. Fairness must apply here and a hundred euros that he is thinking about giving them is not adequate, minister, and he'll have to stand up to the mark and pay these people for doing the very important work that they are doing on our behalf and especially during COVID and the sacrifices that they make and that they have made on each and every one of our behalves. Minister, please listen to the motion and do not go against it.
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