Around 4,500 student nurses are set to receive a new Pandemic Placement Grant worth €100 per week when they are on hospital placements following allegations of exploitation during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The payment, which could cost up to €5.4 million a year and would last until the pandemic ends, is recommended in a review commissioned by the Department of Health and carried out by Professor Tom Collins.
The issue of pay for student nurses and midwives moved centre stage politically late last year when the opposition alleged that many were being used as unpaid staff, and were being assigned to inappropriate tasks.
The Dáil heard allegations that one such student had been assigned to lay out a baby who had passed away - though the HSE has