Dáil Éireann

Vol. 1002 Tuesday, No. 2 8 December 2020 DÍOSPÓIREACHTAÍ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES DÁIL ÉIREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIÚIL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders’ Questions 158 08/12/2020K00800An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business 168 08/12/2020P01500An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Vótáil Pharlaiminteach Chianda), 2020: An Chéad Chéim 176 08/12/2020P01600Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Remote Parliamentary Voting) Bill 2020: First Stage 176 08/12/2020Q00900Statistics (Decade of Centenaries) Bill 2020: First Stage 178 08/12/2020Q01700Report on Service by the Defence Forces: Referral to Select Committee 180 08/12/2020Q02000Proposal re European Defence Agency Project: Referral to Select Committee 180 08/12/2020Q02300Proposal re Agreements on Statistical Transfer of Energy from Renewable Sources: Referral to Select Commit- tee 180 08/12/2020Q02600Ceisteanna - Questions 181 08/12/2020Q02700Cabinet Committees 181 08/12/2020S00350Covid-19 Pandemic 184 08/12/2020T01800Programme for Government 189 08/12/2020X00100National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019: Motion ��194 08/12/2020GG00700Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters 213 08/12/2020GG00900Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) 214 08/12/2020GG01000Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions 214 08/12/2020GG01100Brexit Supports 214 08/12/2020HH00550Forestry Sector 216 08/12/2020JJ00400Trade Agreements 217 08/12/2020KK00150Beef Industry 220 08/12/2020KK00850Common Fisheries Policy ��222 08/12/2020LL00600Food Exports 224 08/12/2020MM00350Health and Safety Inspections ��226 08/12/2020NN00250Agri-Strategy 2025 228 08/12/2020NN00950Fishing Industry 230 08/12/2020OO00600Agricultural Colleges ��232 08/12/2020PP00450Common Agricultural Policy 234 08/12/2020QQ00450Animal Welfare 236 08/12/2020QQ01100Message from Seanad 238 08/12/2020QQ01300Message from Select Committee 238 Organisation of Working Time (Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] 238 08/12/2020DDD00500Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate 263 08/12/2020DDD00550Homeless Persons Data 263 08/12/2020FFF00650Gender Equality 267 08/12/2020GGG00250Covid-19 Pandemic 270 08/12/2020HHH00450Driver Test 273 DÁIL ÉIREANN Dé Máirt, 8 Nollaig 2020 Tuesday, 8 December 2020 Chuaigh an Ceann Comhairle i gceannas ar 2 pm Paidir. Prayer. Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders’ Questions 08/12/2020A00200Deputy Mary Lou McDonald: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle At 8 o’clock this morning Joanna Sloan, a young nurse in Belfast, was the first person in Ireland to receive a vaccine for Covid-19 A little earlier a 90-year-old Fermanagh woman, Margaret Keenan, was the first person in Britain to receive the jab. We now await the vaccine roll-out plan for this part of the island There is at last light at the end of the tunnel Hopefully, this marks a turning of the tide in our fight against this virus and the beginning of the end. Last Wednesday, the Government voted against paying student nurses and midwives It then justified this decision by saying that they do not get paid because they do not do real work. It has broken its promises Promises made by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Don- nelly, his predecessor, Deputy Simon Harris, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil amount to nothing We are standing here today talking about the student nurses working without pay on the same day that the Government will increase pay for super junior Ministers and judges These are not normal times The ask of student nurses is always incredible but it is extraordinary dur- ing a pandemic I will share with the Taoiseach some of the messages I have been sent by student nurses and midwives in reaction to his decision Alison writes: We start our shifts at 7:30 am By 8, we are rushing around carrying out observations, helping patients with toileting and washes This will bring us up to 10:30/11 Twelve o’clock comes and we do medications, blood sugars, feeds and toileting After lunch we try and get some documentation done, call doctors, check blood results and other tasks Teatime comes and we are back assisting with feeds, toileting and medication It is outrageous that the Government is saying that they don’t do real work Rebecca says that she lives at home, unable to afford student housing and she comes home every night from work fearful that she has contracted the virus and could pass it to her immu- 158 8 December 2020 nocompromised Dad Ella says that every student that was on placement was forced to give up their part-time work, the work that pays their bills She is immunocompromised and felt in danger She was on the ward with the highest number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital and she had to isolate Marie writes: In third year, I dealt with a patient who had a major haemorrhage The patient went into cardiac arrest I ran for the crash cart, I alerted the nurses station to call the cardiac team, and I did chest compressions to try and keep that patient alive The patient died I drove home in silence and couldn’t talk to my mother Sinead, a student midwife, says: I have sat with women who are crying because their baby has been feeding all night We are the ones who hold their hands and tell them everything will be ok We are the ones who cry with them Roisin says: Our college years are spent working thirteen hour shifts in understaffed hospitals where you are counted as a member of staff. This year is more exceptional. Students now can’t work a paid job due to [fear of cross-contamination] This creates enormous strain when it comes to paying rent, fees, transport and possibly supporting [a family] These statements illustrate the real work, real lives and real struggles of student nurses and midwives The Taoiseach should please tell them they will be paid, and paid properly 08/12/2020B00200The Taoiseach: Twenty years ago, we moved from an apprenticeship model of nurse education to a degree model It was a fundamental shift and transformation in nurse education, sought by the nursing profession, particularly the nurses’ unions I introduced it myself as Minister for Health and Children It was important in giving a higher degree of respect to the nursing profession within the overall health service hierarchy This debate has been very much politicised and characterised by short-termism It has been designed to put one group of politicians into one corner and another group in another via a simplistic motion that seeks to resolve the issue of public service pay and the critical issue of how best to educate medical and nursing students right across the health area Essentially, what the Deputy is saying is that we should return to the apprenticeship model, which I do not think is a good idea No student nurse should be exploited First-year students are not meant to be treating Covid patients, and they are not meant to be treating patients, full stop Their education in clinical placements should be protected If it is not protected, it is unacceptable As far as I am concerned, no exploitation of student nurses should or will be accepted by the Government At the heart of this is the question of whether we now want to protect the learning experi- ence of nurses on the degree programme or allow ourselves to drift back to yesteryear, to 20 odd years ago and preceding decades, to the apprenticeship model, which was not ideal at all for student nurses at that particular time and which led to repeated

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