Politicians need advisers because they are NOT capable of doing the job that we the Tax payer pay them to do, it’s obvious these overpaid advisers aren’t capable of doing the job that our political elite can’t do, no wonder the countries in the mess it is.

fiona, your right but any newly qualified nurse are not able to get job and what jobs they do get is in caring for the sick in their own homes and only get paid for the time they are in the house so it could be 2hrs or 10 hrs, that’s just not right.

Data for your first three claims please. Typing something doesn’t make it true.

yellow, when was the last time you applied for a job? it is there you will get your info, anyone in the private sector whom has taken the redundancy in the last couple years can tell you, if they do get a job it nearly half the salary they were on and an not talking about the big boys here am talking about the ordinary joe soap

…that really doesn’t address my point. You think Irish nurses earn the highest wages in Europe? Show me the evidence. You think unionised nurses earn twice what non-union members earn? Show me the evidence.

If you want to have a debate about wage levels or unemployment supports or the jobs crisis, great. But I’m tired to death of people peddling bullshit and dressing it up as fact.

I can’t understand why people feel that our nurses, doctors and frontline Public Servants shouldn’t be paid what they get. By and large they earn it. I spoke to a nurse recently and we talked about the various allowences discussed in the media, she felt that the vast majority of these were complete lunacy and laughed at the idea, for instance, of being paid an allowence for eating your lunch at your desk. She reckoned most nurses would be due a small fortune if they were entitled to this. She told me there are many untruths told in the media regarding nurses, for example, normally nurses in the private sector are paid a higher wage than those in the Public Service, and she said it’s not just about money. In the Private Sector if a nurse got even the same wage her job would likely be much less stressful and she’s likely to have the time, and facilities, to do her job properly and it may not involve long night shifts. A frontline nurse in the Public Service has to do long shift hours, cover much more patients in overstretched hospitals with not enough facilities then take abuse for it, when they do earn their wages they’re constantly told they’re overpaid by people who often have little or no experience in with hospitals let alone nursing. Whatever our frontline Public Servants get, they damn well earn. If you don’t like it, try it.

Bang on. I don’t want the nurse giving my kid an injection, or taking care of my grandmother in her last hours, or nursing my brother back to heath after an operation, to be distracted by worrying about where her next rent payment is coming from. We expect the absolute best from them. The least they can expect in return is a decent wage.