I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue.
This debate follows a series of actions by student nurses across the country who are determined to highlight their plight. Student nurses have been forced to engage in lunchtime work stoppages and protest marches to Dáil Éireann to ensure their voices are heard. I and my Labour Party colleagues fully support their campaign.
The conditions student nurses are expected to endure for three years are appalling and must be addressed by the Government as a matter of urgency. Recent figures show a significant fall off in the number of students enrolling in nursing courses. This is a serious development and comes at a time when hospitals and health boards are experiencing a severe shortage in trained nursing staff. My colleague, Deputy Shortall, highlighted the fact that Irish hospitals are advertising for nurses as far away as Finland and Iceland in an attempt to recruit much needed staff. Matrons in Kildare hospitals gladly welcome nurses who return from abroad. This is a very serious issue for our health service and the Minister must tackle it immediately. If he does not heed the warning signs a crisis of major proportions in our hospitals will occur in the not too distant future.
The conditions and grant assistance available to student nurses are a significant bar to young people deciding to pursue a career in nursing. Given the recent upturn in our economic performance, many school leavers have a wide variety of career options available to them when they complete secondary education. The Minister must ensure that nursing remains an attractive option for a significant number of these school leavers. If he is intent on standing over the current level of support afforded to student nurses, the numbers entering the nursing profession will continue to fall.
Student nurses currently receive a grant of £3,000 per annum, which works out at £57.69 per week. This sum is totally inadequate to support a student nurse and must be increased. The majority of these nurses have to rely on parental handouts to make ends meet during their three year courses. This places enormous pressure on parents and a strain on the family budget. It also demeans the role of student nurses and prevents them from developing independent lifestyles.
The current level of maintenance grant also prevents many people from embarking on a career in nursing. This is particularly true of people whose parents are in receipt of social welfare payments. Such families cannot be expected to subvent their child's nursing career for three years. As a result many young people do not pursue their ambition to make a real contribution to our health services because of the severe financial pressure it would place on their families. This is an extremely serious issue and the current grant levels discriminate against families on low incomes or those on social welfare. This copperfastens the cycle of poverty which thousands of families in this State have to endure.
The Minister cannot defend the current level of support for nurses by comparing them with other third level students. Student nurses form a distinct and separate body of students unlike any other in the country. They work a 35 hour week for 48 weeks of the year. This workload is probably unique within our third level system and prevents them from taking part-time employment to supplement their incomes. For this reason, and the other issues raised by speakers during the debate, it is obvious that student nurses form a special group within our third level system. It is only right and proper that they should receive support different from that afforded to other students in our third level system.
The demands outlined by the Irish Nurses Organisation are reasonable and fair. If they were implemented in full they would significantly improve the standard of living for thousands of student nurses across the country. Student nurses are demanding a £900 per annum increase in their maintenance grant. This is equivalent to a weekly rate of £75. Many speakers alluded to the fact that this rate of financial support is roughly equivalent to the basic payment for people on unemployment benefit or community employment schemes. It is a very modest sum of money on which to expect people to live.
There are no real budgetary or fiscal reasons for denying this increase to student nurses. Given our current buoyant level of Exchequer returns, the money is available in the Department of Finance. The investment of this money would have no significant inflationary effect on our economy. In short, there is no reason this increase should not be granted. It is only a matter of political will. I am disappointed the Government lacks the political will necessary to grant this modest increase.
The other demands of the lNO, as outlined in the motion before us, should also be granted as a matter of urgency. Individually, the demands are extremely reasonable and would not create any significant problems for the Departments of Health and Children or Education and Science. However, if the demands were taken as a package, they would represent a significant enhancement of the conditions of student nurses.
At the heart of the debate this evening is the question of the priority that we attach to our health service. Our current strong economic performance provides us with resources to invest in social services that have suffered from years of neglect. However, it is important to realise that these extra resources are not infinite and must be targeted at those areas that we, as politicians, decide are most in need of support. In my opinion the relatively small investment required to dramatically change the living standards of student nurses is one of the most important investments we as a society can make. It would achieve a number of results. It would ensure fair play and just reward for a section of our community that has been neglected for too long. It would remove the financial hardship that many families of student nurses currently endure as they supplement their children during their pre-registration courses. It would remove the financial barrier that currently prevents children from disadvantaged backgrounds from embarking on a career in nursing. It would also ensure that nursing remains an attractive career for thousands of people. The implementation of the package of measures before us would send out the strong message that we value the health care system and are prepared to invest in the people who work in it.
The motion has the full support of the Labour Party. It addresses the modest demands articulated by the lNo. The Government has the resources to deliver on these demands and it is the responsibility of the Minister for Health and Children to secure the necessary funding from his colleague in the Department of Finance. Student nurses, and the entire health care system, deserve a Minister who is prepared to battle on their behalf. The Government's amendment to the motion tonight indicates that the Minister cannot face this challenge. Regardless of how much he attempts to excuse his record on this issue, the demands of the student nurses will not go away and he must face up to his responsibility at some time. I urge him to do so sooner rather than later.