Last week the Government voted down the motion where we called on it to acknowledge that hundreds of student nurses and midwives were working and are being exploited and to pay them. The Tánaiste should not try to obfuscate. In doing that, the Government betrayed the programme for Government commitment, specifically to return the support of healthcare workers who protected us all. The Government then made the decision to take away the healthcare assistant rate that it had been forced to give them in the early period of the pandemic.

The Government persists in compounding this dishonesty with claims, such as the one today that most student nurses across Europe do not get paid. I will give the example of Germany so that we can get some facts on the record. In Germany for the degree course, first year students get paid €750 to €800 a month, second year students get €800 to €900 a month and third year students get €930 to €1,030 a month with no fees. Why can we not do what they do in Germany for student nurses and midwives? Why does the Government not stop the spin to deflect away from what it did last week?

That is totally misleading. I said nothing in my earlier contributions about other European countries. I do not know where he is getting that from.

The Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, did.

As the Deputy knows well, the motion he tabled last week was not funded and was non-binding. Had it passed, it would not have been worth a single euro to a single student nurse. The Deputy has spun it in such a way that it created a false impression.

The Government does not respect the democracy of this House.

He has to shout me down because he cannot hear the truth.