Now we will take Leaders' Questions under Standing Order 36. I call Deputy McDonald.

I would first like to address information which I placed on the Dáil record last week relating to an incident where a Sinn Féin representative sent inappropriate text messages to a young person. It was then my understanding that the young person was 17 years of age because of the information provided on his application form when he applied to join Ógra Shinn Féin. That information was wrong. The young person himself has made clear that he was, in fact, 16 at the time so I want to correct the Dáil record to reflect that he was in fact 16 years of age when these texts were sent.

I have now written to the young person and his mother offering a full, unequivocal and sincere apology. What happened to this young person was wrong. Niall Ó Donnghaile's behaviour was unacceptable and utterly inappropriate and no young person should have experienced that. I am also very sorry for the hurt that my words caused in the statement that I issued following his resignation. That was never, ever my intention and I apologise to that young person for issuing that statement. Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

Thank you, Deputy.

Our student nurses and midwives are incredible. They do invaluable nursing work while on placement on wards and, in fact, they keep our hospitals going. They do a minimum of 28 hours a week and they work far beyond their training duties. The McHugh review of 2022 addressed pay for intern nurses. However, the new subsistence allowance for first-to-third-year student nurses does not go far enough and leaves so many in very difficult circumstances. The review failed to address supports for other students working in clinical placement in the health service. One student nurse wrote to, I think, every TD at the weekend to say:

In my first five weeks of studying to be General Nurse, I was taught how to save a life, how to bath a paralyzed patient, how to care for the elderly and infants ... It's clear to me that the role of a student nurse is not valued.

The work that student nurses and midwives do is invaluable but they are also experiencing a cost-of-living crisis. They struggle to find accommodation. They are forced to pay rip-off rent when they do so, or they are forced to commute long distances when they cannot. The mother of one student nurse wrote to my colleague, Deputy Mairéad Farrell, to share the distressing situation that her daughter is in. She is a second-year student nurse. She commutes a long distance to and from her placement because she cannot afford accommodation. She has slept on friends' sofas while working shifts in a maternity ward from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. and now things are at breaking point for her. Her mother wrote:

We’ve now had to borrow money from family to put her up in a hotel for the days of her placement. The HSE told them not to even ask for reimbursements. We can’t afford an extra €300 a week. We are on low incomes. We are sick at the thought of what will happen. The stress it is causing is sickening. She breaks her back studying and working, has the loveliest nature and will be a lovely nurse. One of the nurses that the country is crying out for. Surely this can’t be right.

This student nurse is not alone. So many others are pushed into very difficult situations while pursuing their qualification and working hard for us in our hospitals.

By the way, this is not about a return to the apprenticeship model; this is about a fair deal for students working in our health service. Tá sé thar am go mbeadh Rialtas againn a thabharfadh cothrom na Féinne d’oibrithe cúraim sláinte ina n-oiliúint. Does the Taoiseach agree with me that healthcare workers in training should have a fair deal for the work they do when on placement? Will he commit to delivering that fair deal for first- to third-year student nurses and midwives?

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this important issue. I join her in acknowledging what she rightly describes as the very important role student nurses play in our health system, in our hospitals and in our community during their training. She is quite right to make that point. Of course, in their fourth and final year, student nurses are paid, but the Deputy is talking specifically about their first to third years as well. My colleague, the Minister for Health, did have an expert review group that looked at that profession in general and how we could support people at all stages of their progression, from the student nurse right through. My understanding is that the report made a number of recommendations in relation to increased levels of support and subsistence, recognising things around travel and accommodation. I truthfully do not have it here in front of me but from my memory, I think it was something that would have been developed in consultation with the likes of the INMO as well. If there is a wish to have further engagement on that with the representatives, we are certainly happy to do just that. The Deputy is right and we can agree on this. We all want a fair deal for those who are providing care, albeit as students, in our hospitals, because that care is invaluable. We want that to be fair. Certainly we had taken some measures to endeavour to address that. Clearly the Deputy is outlining a case that the Minister for Health would be happy to take a look at and maybe raise with nurse representative bodies like the INMO. We were of the view that we had made some progress through that expert review group report but let us take that away. I am very happy to do that.

While we are on the issue, I would make a broader point. The Deputy said not to mention the apprenticeship model which is separate to her question - I get that - but I would make the point that we have tried to broaden the number of places in the country where you can access nurse education. We have tried to partner more with local hospitals in that area. Deputy Mairéad Farrell, who has brought this issue to Deputy McDonald's attention, would know very much how in the Galway area, working now with the tertiary degree programme, we have seen more opportunities for more people to access nursing courses closer to their home and also hopefully their placement in their local or regional hospital. I hope that will have a positive impact. We want more student nurses. We are trying to grow the number of people who are studying nursing. We are growing the number of college places in our healthcare professions. Of course, if there are cases coming through of people who are finding the cost-of-living challenge acute, the Minister for Health will be happy to engage further on that.

I thank the Taoiseach. He will remember during Covid there was a huge discussion around student midwives and nurses and the work that was being done. It was said at that point that the work was not being adequately recognised and compensated. I just think it is really problematic that we are back in a space where young students of nursing and midwifery feel again that they are not being recognised or valued. The last thing we want is these young professionals feeling they are not valued within the Irish health system and making a decision to make their contribution in Perth or Toronto or wherever that might be. The case brought to the attention of Deputy Farrell is by no means an isolated incident. This is a widespread experience. In fact, many of the students are now talking about organising for demonstrations and bringing political pressure to bear, and rightly so. We have a proposal for a €3,000 bursary. We would like to discuss that with the Taoiseach. We hope he will adopt it, not least because we will be heading into elections very soon, as he informs us.

So I hear.

Young people and students working within the healthcare system are going to watch very carefully to see what we have to say and whether we are prepared to put our money where our mouths are. On this side of the House we certainly are. I will send on details of the individual case to the Minister. I hope the Taoiseach takes the point, which is made in good faith, that it is in all of our collective interest to get this right for these students and make sure they can live, survive and thrive.

I am glad the Deputy picked up my election hints anyway. I thought they were rather subtle.

There goes the surprise.

It is a serious issue the Deputy is raising and I do appreciate that. We have significantly increased the level of supports to our student nurses. We did that, as she rightly said, arising from the debate around Covid and post Covid in respect of the very important role being played by student nurses. I do not have the specific figures in front of me but I think the level of support we are providing, through that subsistence, travel and other supports, has risen by several million over the past couple of years. We are happy, however, to engage further on this.

I would also make the point to student nurses that, of course, we have also done other things that will help them along with other students, whether that is reducing student fees, improving student grants, making nursing available in more parts of the country and in ways that work for more people, or extending the renter's tax credit to cover students as well. I am very happy to take a look at it. As we come into that election season, we need to acknowledge that a lot of other students are carrying out important placements as well. Nurses and student nurses are an extremely important group, but having some degree of a consistent approach to all the people playing an important role in our health service as students is something other professions mention to us regularly. I am happy to follow up.