Spain calls for support for nurses demands
Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin Mid West Joanne Spain said: Mary Harney has pushed the private health care system to the top of the agenda. And now she is refusing to bring nurses conditions into the 21st century. If this decision was put to the Irish people, I know and she knows, what they would say. And they'll be saying it to her in her constituency of Dublin Mid West this May when they give the nurses their vote of support and send Mary Harney packing."
She said:
A Chairde,
Last month 40,000 nurses balloted in favour of strike
action throughout this state. These nurses are the frontline staff of the
health service. They are the first to deal with patients on trolleys up and
down the country. They deliver our babies, they dress our wounds, they
administer our medication. They are doing an amazing job in circumstances
that have been made progressively worse by successive governments and
absolutely dire by our current health minister. These nurses are not making
outrageous demands.
They want a 35-hour week, in line with other
professions in the health service. They want a wage increase that would see
them paid at a rate reflective of their skills - currently unqualified
childcare workers are paid more than some nurses and midwives.
And
they want a Dublin allowance so their staff can afford to work and live in
what is considered one of the most expensive cities in the world.
They
have been raising these concerns for 26 years. What person, who has ever
been unfortunate enough to end up in one of our badly funded hospitals can
say that our nurses do not deserve proper pay and conditions for the work
they do?
Our Minister for Health Mary Harney has no sympathy for
nurses. She recently reopened talks with over 2,000 highly paid hospital
consultants who can earn upwards of €150,000 yearly, but has maintained her
refusal to enter into negotiations with our poorly paid
nurses. She
wants them to wait for a flawed benchmarking system to deal with their wages
and working conditions.
How dare a woman, whose party recently
polled at only 1% of the electorate, tell 40,000 nurses that she won't deal
with their very reasonable demands?
Mary Harney specialises in
making decisions in her department without a mandate. She is gifting public
hospital land to private hospitals. She has pushed the private health care
system to the top of the agenda. And now she is refusing to bring nurses
conditions into the 21st century. If this decision was put to the Irish
people, I know and
she knows, what they would say.
And
they'll be saying it to her in her constituency of Dublin Mid West this May
when they give the nurses their vote of support and send Mary Harney packing.
A
chairde, let's send our own message of support to the INO and the PNA this
weekend. Vote in favour of motion 80.