The boss of the HSE has criticised recent “damaging” commentary about the pay of student nurses.
Paul Reid said the comments around “widespread abuse and exploitation” of student nurses and midwives were “extremely unfair” to health staff.
He urged anyone who is being exploited or abused in the HSE to report it.
Mr Reid made the comments as the Government came under sustained criticism in recent weeks for not paying student nurses.
Last week the Government voted against an opposition motion to pay student nurses.
Mr Reid said that student nurses have played a “huge role” during the Covid-19 pandemic and prior to the health crisis.
“Some of the commentary made during the week has been quite damaging to colleges, damaging to the HSE, damaging to our staff, and damaging to our students,” he added.
“There has been general commentary around widespread abuse and exploitation of student nurses and midwives.
“Firstly, and to be very clear, if anybody feels they’re being exploited, anybody in the HSE, or anybody feels they are being abused, there are very clear processes through the colleges and the HSE.
“Nobody should be abused or exploited in our workforce and as CEO, I wouldn’t stand for it.”
He added: “I do believe that some of those generalised comments during the week are extremely unfair to our nurses, to nurses management, to our directors of nursing and the wider medical workforce.”
Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday the Tánaiste described the opposition motion to pay student nurses as “party politics”.
Leo Varadkar said the Solidarity-People Before Profit motion was “non-binding and unfunded”, adding that it was designed to make the Government look bad.
The Fine Gael leader said public pay is not voted on in the Dáil.
"We will not give up until student nurses are paid for the work that they've done." - @PearseDoherty#paystudentnursesandmidwives pic.twitter.com/qUc9ZihOTR
— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) December 10, 2020
He said, however, that student nurses should be paid in cases where they are acting up and filling in for a staff nurse.
Mr Varadkar told the Dáil: “The motion in the Dáil last week was party politics, it was non-binding, it was unfunded.
“If it had passed, it would not have been worth a single euro to a single student nurse. It was designed to make the Government look bad, the opposition look good and do nothing for the student nurses.
“Public pay is not voted on in the Dáil, ever. Public pay is negotiated between the Government and trade unions and negotiations are now under way on the next pay deal.
“I do think that where student nurses are acting up, where they are filling in for a staff nurse, where they are doing the work of a staff nurse because the ward or clinical area is understaffed, I do think they should be paid for that, quite frankly.
“This is an issue the Government is engaging on, and wants to continue engaging on, and will speak to the INMO (Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) and (trade union) Sipto about this.”
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty claimed it is “politics” that has left student nurses unpaid.
“Student nurses are plugging the gaps in a health system that is under severe pressure. Our student nurses do amazing work,” he said.
“The message is simple – stop exploiting student nurses and midwives.”
A review of allowances for all student nurses is under way, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this week.
Mr Doherty said the review has been ongoing since October.
“The Minister of Health (Stephen Donnelly) said in October that the review would be concluded in the coming days. It is now the middle of December, so what is taking so long for this issue to be addressed?” he added.
“(We are) carrying a clear message to this parliament that the public want to make sure that our student nurses, who have stepped into the breach in the middle of the pandemic, put themselves and their families at risk, should be rewarded, and should not be expected to man our wards during this pandemic and be paid nothing for it.”
