-----the power of organised crime is such that it challenges the rule of the state. Indeed, it has penetrated the state in many instances in terms of influence and power, ultimately to the detriment of the ordinary citizens of the state. There are always balances to be struck in situations like this but I take the Deputy's point. There are issues around the performance of the Israeli police and military forces, without question, in terms of human rights abuses in Palestine and towards Palestinians. That is unaccept…

-----through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and other infrastructural initiatives in the West Bank and Gaza. Europe will continue to be supportive of Palestinians' human rights and of enabling them to build a state apparatus for themselves. That will continue. There is a balancing act in terms of the approach to these issues. Different member states have different perspectives. They do not all share our views on the Middle East. There are 27 EU member states so we cannot dictate every issue or the compo…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together. Dealing with Covid-19 on the island of Ireland is a priority for the Government and I have had regular contact with the First Minister and deputy First Minister on the matter. Furthermore, there is ongoing engagement on Covid-19 between the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister for Health in Northern Ireland, Robin Swann; between the Chief Medical Officers, North and South; and between the two health services. I have discussed Covid with th…

I thank all of the Deputies for raising these issues. To Deputy Richmond, the first overall point I will make is that we have made every effort to try to align our positions, North and South, on Covid-19. Early on, there was the memorandum of understanding between the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, in the Republic and the CMO of Northern Ireland. There have been sensitivities and differences of opinion within the North and the Northern Ireland Executive. In advance of some of the restrictions that were introduced, we …

But it should not be the case and the Deputy should not be saying it should be the case. If he is saying that everyone should be paid, then he is saying that we should go along with it.

We should not go along with it. To go along with that is to undermine the whole programme and go back to an older and, in my view, less advantageous model for nursing in general. That is the point.

I am starting with reality. In my view, we need to deal with that core issue. I have said to the Minister and others that there should now be an overarching review of nursing education in general. Australia, which often gets mentioned, has the two models running in parallel - a nursing degree model where the students do not get paid and an apprenticeship model. That is my understanding. They are two different models entirely. It is far too simplistic to come forward with a Private Members' motion and say "They are …

It is wonderful that the Deputy can boil it down to one slogan, to one hashtag, but public policy never gets developed on a hashtag. It is time people realised that.

That is the point. That is the bottom line.

It is legislation, it is public service pay talks-----

-----it is working out entitlements. That is hard work. Negotiations have been ongoing with the union and the INMO in relation to a review of allowances. There is a review of allowances for first year, second year and third year students. It will end by the end of December and result in an increase in those allowances. There will also be a review of the fourth year payment and the nature of that. In addition to verification procedures and so on and the need to protect that learning environment that I spoke about, w…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 11, inclusive, together. Alongside the State's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and preparations and planning for Brexit, the Government has been working hard to implement the commitments in the programme for Government across a wide range of issues in all Departments. Departments are currently preparing strategy statements for the next three years, which will define their high level goals and objectives as well as the strategies to be used to achieve them. These strategy stat…

To respond to Deputy Paul Murphy on the student nurses issue, and to Deputy Bríd Smith, who asked me what I would call what happened, I call it an instance of abuse of student nurses. It should not happen in our hospitals-----

It should not happen, and in my view, it calls into question the very essence of what the nursing degree programme was about. In my view, the HSE should be written to. I do not know whether complaints have been made to the HSE in respect of those individual cases but if not, they should have been and someone should pursue that on behalf of those student nurses. It is not acceptable in any shape or form. Particularly the case that Deputy Murphy spoke about, which presumably was in the maternity wards, should not hap…

They should never be put-----

Let me speak. I listened to the Deputy. They should never be put in that position. I am of a view that if someone is told to work a roster, he or she should be paid for working that roster. If we allow that to happen, we will undermine the whole basis of the degree programme - that is the point. We should not allow lazy or wrong practices by those who are meant to supervise and be in charge in our hospitals. They are resolutely denying that, by the way, and nursing directors up and down the country are saying that …

-----1,400 additional nurses have been employed and recruited since Covid began. That is not the excuse. It should not be an excuse-----

Undergraduate students should never be abused like that. That was not the purpose of the nursing degree programme. That is a very important point. Otherwise, we are regressing backwards to earlier times from which we thought we had sprung free. We invested a great deal in a nursing degree programme to make it better for younger generations to apply for and study nursing, and to aspire to have a nursing degree and a postgraduate degree as well. That was the whole purpose of it. That is why I am saying now-----

-----that in addition to the reviews of allowances that will happen before the end of December, and in addition to the pandemic unemployment payment, pay for fourth-year nursing students will also be reviewed. The results of that will be available in November and we will pay higher allowances after those reviews. Of that I am certain.

Equally, however, and separate to that, there should be a comprehensive review now of the degree programme and how it is operating on the ground. Deputy Boyd Barrett talked about the preceptors and he is correct. A whole range of management posts were created and resourced by the State to supervise the degree programme in our hospitals for a reason, namely, to prevent the exploitation and abuse of student nurses in wards.