Student nurses and midwives are set to receive a backdated promised Pandemic Placement Grant of €100 per week by June 1.
The payment applies for weeks when the students in question were on placement in health care settings during the pandemic, and was recommended in a review by Professor Tom Collins.
The INMO believes that the majority of student nurses would have worked for at least eight weeks on placement over recent months but in some cases students could have been on placement for between 12 and 15 weeks.
The total cost of the payments is expected to be some €5 million.
Local Senator O’Loughlin praised the students for overcoming unprecedented challenges posed by Covid-19 during their studies.
She confirmed that that the payment for the relevant placement weeks would be backdated to September of last year.
She said: “A longer-term review of supports in place for nursing and midwifery supernumerary student clinical placements is being conducted by Sean McHugh and will include an examination of the levels of pay for the final year internship, and the travel and accommodation allowances.
“Recommendations are due by 30 June and it is hoped that the new arrangements will be in place for the next academic year.
“The government has also pledged that all of this year’s nursing and midwifery graduates will be offered permanent contracts in the public health system.”
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