The Government commissioned a report on pay and allowances for student nurses and midwives. Several weeks ago, as the Tánaiste knows, placements for student nurses and midwives in hospitals were paused for two weeks. That comes to an end this weekend and I have had many calls from student nurses and midwives worried that they have not had any calls from the hospitals where they were placed and they do not know whether they are going back to those placements on Monday. Why is that? Has this cancellation of placements continued beyond two weeks?

The Tánaiste is also aware that this House passed a motion on the issue of pay and allowances for student nurses and midwives, including for this report to be published. It has not been published. The motion also called for the March agreement to be reinstated. It has not been reinstated. In addition, the motion called for the second report, which the Minister has stated will look at permanent solutions to be put in place and expedited. That has not taken place. When are we going to see action on this issue and can the Tánaiste offer clarity on the placement issue?

I appreciate that student nurses are going to want to know what the plan is quite soon. We will get that information out as soon as possible. The placement of student nurses was suspended because, as the Deputy knows, student nurses have to be supervised and tutored. Suspending those placements freed up hundreds of fully-qualified nurses to look after patients and that was the priority. A decision will be made shortly as to whether those placements can be reinstated.

Obviously, the hospitals will need to be less busy for us to be in a position to restore students. The Deputy will be aware that the issue of allowances, pay and so on, is ongoing. There will be engagement with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, and SIPTU about that.