Student nurses who lost other part-time work due to COVID-19 will now be able to claim the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
It will also be backdated to when they lost their jobs initially.
Around 4,000 student nurses have been working in Irish healthcare settings during the pandemic, receiving an allowance of just €50 per week.
So if a student nurse lost a weekend job in a shop; they will now get PUP while continuing to work in our hospitals
— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) December 3, 2020
The INMO and students have raised issues of loss of income during COVID-19, due to fewer opportunities for part-time work in the likes of nursing homes.
Today, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed student nurses who lost their part-time work will be eligible for PUP payments.
The Government says they want to ensure any student nurse who lost employment during the pandemic is supported.
It comes as some student nurses say it was “an insult” to ask them to work for free through the coronavirus pandemic when they are putting their lives on the line every day.
The Government last night voted down a motion seeking to pay student nurses and midwives.
It was brought before TDs in the Dáil last night, calling on the state to pay the students €14 euro hour.
That rate would be equivalent to the pay rate for a healthcare assistant, and the same pay students received in the first wave of the pandemic.
The rejection of the motion was sharply criticised by the opposition parties, with Sinn Féin's health spokesperson David Cullinane saying it was "quite disgraceful".
