INMO: Uptake for low-paid nursing jobs will be 'very low'
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said reports from the HSE that there has been "strong interest" in its controversial scheme to employ 1,000 graduate nurses on lower salaries is contrary to the feedback they have been getting.
Earlier, an HSE spokeswoman said: "Informal interest and enquiries regarding the scheme has been strong since it was announced in December."
The INMO is calling on graduates to boycott the recruitment scheme, which aims to pay newly qualified nurses a starting salary of almost €22,000.
The nurses will get a two-year contract at just over €21,700 a year, but they can top this up with another €4,000 in premium payments.
General Secretary of the INMO Liam Doran said he is confident there will be a very low take up from graduates.
Mr Doran said: "All I can say is that our organisation was inundated with confirmations from new graduates that they were not going to apply for these low-paid jobs, that they fully understood it meant experienced nurses were going to be sacked and stood down.
"They fully realise they have better job opportunities as close as the UK, so the feedback that we have had is that there will be a very low uptake on this programme because the new graduates see it for what it is, exploitation."
The closing date for the first phase of applications is noon next Thursday with the deadlines for the second and third phase in February and March.
