The Government is to reexamine its verdict to terminate pay for student
nurses on work placement by 2015.
Mary Coughlan, Tánaiste and Minister for Health said she has requested the
secretary general of her department to analyze the rationale for the total termination
of clinical placement payments to student nurses.
Ms Coughlan said that she believed there was a substantial argument in favor
of keeping some level of defrayal to student nurses.
'I intend that a revised proposal will then be brought to Government that
will be self-financing and contained within the parameters of my Department's
four-year current budget allocation,' Coughlan added.
Members have been notified, by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization,
to only vote for parties that promised to override the intended pay cuts.
Liam Doran, General Secretary, had cautioned that the votes of the 6,000
student nurses and their supporters could determine the result of the final seat
in a number of constituencies.
Thousands of nurses protested over the plan on Feb. 9, Wednesday afternoon.
Student nurses in their fourth year spend the final nine months of their
degree curriculum substituting paid qualified staff on wards.
The students take 80% of the minimum staff rate.
On the other hand, the Government had made up its mind to bit by bit remove their
pay, so that by 2015 they would be on the job full-time for nine months with no
compensation.
The INMO said it laid eyes on the decision to lead off a review and it is dying
to take part in the review.
All the same, it is still attempting a full reversal of the decision, regarding
the element of the cut pertaining to 2011.
A spokesperson said their rally and demonstration will still proceed in Dublin on Wednesday.