Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
1385. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 556 of 13 February 2024, if he will address the issue in relation to the reason intellectual disability student nurses have still yet to receive the subsistence pay rise; if he will expedite the matter and provide a timeframe as to when this pay rise will issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14445/24]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, following approval by Government on 13 December 2022, I was pleased to announce €9 million in additional supports for student nurses and midwives. €5.4m of this funding provides for an enhanced Travel and Subsistence Scheme for eligible students in publicly funded undergraduate nursing and midwifery courses while attending their supernumerary clinical practice placements. Supernumerary students in midwifery, general, combined children's and general, intellectual disability and psychiatric nursing all have the same entitlement.
The Department of Health Circular 4/2023 issued to the HSE on 27 February 2023, set out revised arrangements to apply. This scheme provides a targeted and more equitable approach to supporting these students.
Payment of allowances to eligible students is a priority for me. I would like these payments to students, particularly those in respect of the 2022/2023 academic year, to have been made long ago. While the HSE has advised that payments have commenced in a number of areas, I remain concerned at the slow pace of payments. My Department continues to engage with the HSE to ensure that outstanding payments are prioritized.
In relation to the question asked by the Deputy, payments to eligible students covered by Circular 4/2023 are a matter for the HSE and individual hospitals and I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on this issue.
