It’s a farse how the gards are treated,I take my hat off to them..
How can you expect them to to a good job with low moral,being a gard used to carry respect

Guys why then dont staff nurses , firemen , rank and file firemen demand that the croke park is torn up immediatley , The vast majority of people dont want to cut the wages of front line services but while we have 100s of million being pumped into the HSE with poor outcomes and all manner of back room and mangagement across thethe public service being overpaid we have a problem .

meant to include rank and file Garda

Why don’t they start a petition, to get T.D.’s and ministers to take a 30% paycut first?

http://www.activism.com/en_IE/petition/treat-our-nurses-with-the-100-respect-they-deserve-not-80-or-any-less/41805

Please sign this petition to show your support for nurses in Ireland!!

well that wood b a start what about getting rid of the senate

not far wrong there. not even a cut in subs

They get paid way more here in OZ and its still not enough..

It’s just a way of avoiding the fact that the Health budget is too low and they need more money.

Fair play to the Nurses for standing up for the graduates. It’s a great pity that incumbent teachers didn’t take a similar stand when the Government cut new recruits salary on their profession. It beats me how they can sleep at night.

A bit of solidarity would do them a lot of favours but the last thing teachers want is more shitty press, the press famously hates them as it is. I don’t really get it either… anybody who’s willing to work with angry mood swingy arsehole teenagers for a living deserves to be well paid.

@ ivan what is ‘ Rong’ with this country is that we have this massive Public Service paybill costing 20 billion per annum and Public Servants ( Public service me arse) with an overinflated belief in the value of what they do and what that is worth.

Ivan I work in a completely different sector but it’s a similar story, 3/4 years in college followed by 3.5 years as a trainee on pittance! It’s not uncommon practice across the board but I don’t work for public sector so no union to kick off about it! That being said I can’t compare my work to that of a nurse as I work in an office so I’m really just referring to the practice of getting paid very little while serving as a trainee!

Ivan, so work in a different trade.
You don’t HAVE to be a nurse.

@ Ali,

Well i hope you are better at nursing than maths because the starting salary is 25% higher than the minimum wage not ‘ near’ it. Be happy to get a job and get some experience. After all you keep telling us that it’s a vocation or is it after all ‘ Just about the money’

So It works out as 10.84 an hour and that’s before tax, levies, pension, medical etc Oh my god that’s awful I can’t believe they think its acceptable. And what happens after the contracts? Back to the dole office. My god this country is a disgrace. Fair play to them, I hope they dont give up. Anyone who can get out of this country get out now!

My god plenty of us have degrees/masters and earn less and work longer hours. It may not be right but how most of us are treated during the recession has been disgraceful but I hate to break it to you but you’re no more special than the rest of us.

John the Baptist – you are forgetting that nurses work for under minimum wage for the 9 month internship . And also if you are out for a 12 hour shift, it is counted as more than one day by your ‘sick days’ so that is how these numbers are skewed .

Graduate nurses complete long work placements while in college and have the same skill set as other qualified nurses. Your comments suggest to me that you think all new graduates are living in their parents pockets and are cocooned in college. This concept of believing they should be happy getting work with all the cutbacks is outrageous. Maybe two years of misery will mould them as people and help them understand real life. They have completed the same training as any other nurses and carry out the same level of duty and care.

Also, they work in extremely challenging circumstances also. They work long, 12 hour shifts…oh sorry that’s a touchy subject for you. People embraced the Celtic tiger too much and were reckless. They have mortgages up to the hilt and owe thousands. These were individual choices. The whole purpose of the scheme according to the HSE is to develop experience. So why pay it at the lower rate? So nurses with 15 years experience, 3 kids, and an overdue mortgage should be exempt because they have suffered more? Cuts should be fair and equal and straight across the board. It’s easy say they should be happy behind your laptop with your tea and biscuits. So if you go to hospital and are treated by a new graduate and she gives you wrong medication, you should be happy because your lucky you have a nurse. Do you want graduates to have the same attitude as people in mc Donald’s? They get low pay so should have no responsibility. Graduate nurses know they are lucky to have a job. They are willing to work hard and progress along the career ladder. The reason behind the graduate scheme is to save money and not promote experience. This scheme will lead to mass emigration. What’s more important? Saving lives or saving money? A nurse will play a far more important role than any guard, fireman or over payed pen pusher in someone’s life. This focus on graduate pay and the negativity responses is deflecting from the real issue. The health service is in need of complete overhaul.

@ Ali,
You need more exposure to the real world. Every student coming out of college with a degree is in the same boat. A lot of them have to emigrate and would give their eye teeth to get a job with 22k and gain experience. For instance people coming out of college with law degrees and the Fe’s are working for nothing and bloody thankful of it so as to get their papers and go and practice in London. As for ‘nurses are the people who look after your loved ones when they are at their worst don’t you think they deserve more appreciation…’ This is what nurses are supposed to do There’s a clue in the name. You signed up for this and now you want to get paid extra for it. Maybe you’re in the wrong discipline

John I’m beginning to doubt if John the Baptist is your real name.

John the babtist just because your willing to accept the people of this country will just have to take what their giving or emigrate doesn’t mean we will. We will fight, not just nurses, everyone not happy needs to protest. And this is coming from someone who lost their job and was only on minimum

Wage anyways. I know how bad the private sector is and their a disgrace. How can u justify the fat cats in the public sector and private sector on their ridiculous wage? And then expect the frontline or ordinary workers of the country (public and private) to take cuts that push them into pure poverty! College or hard workers deserve their pay.

@ Karolyn,

I’m not defending the higher level pay scales in the Public service. In fact the opposite. I believe in cuts across the board and no exceptions. Time for a sanity check on salaries at all levels. A public service paybill of 20 billion is unsustainable. Either cut salaries drastically or cut headcount drastically. Overmanned and inefficent

not extra no…. did i say that?
i would like the same starting salary as those who qualified last yr n the yr before why not when we have done the same work. please do not tell me i need more exposure to the real world you have no idea what i have seen do not lecture me on the real world buddy! now take ur opinion and your red thumbs and be obnoxious elsewhere.

@ Ali,

Because I don’t agree with you and you feel passionately I’m being obnoxious. It’s going to be a long tough life for you, unless of course you get a job in the Irish Public Service where of course you’ll be cocooned from reality.
The HSE has determined what the job is worth. What was paid last year and the year before is irrelevant. Don’t worry you won’t be forced to take up one of the positions offered. There will be a waiting list and you of course can always emmigrate. Then of course you’ll have to accept the rate for the job elsewhere. Good luck

Much higher thank god!

You claim nurses have the highest rate of absenteeism in the country. Where’d you source this information? If you worked with infectious diseases on a daily basis and with a huge burn out rate you would be sick for a few more days a year than the average office worker!

Go and shite.

Seriously- no amount of money on Earth would pay me to be a nurse. That’s what makes it a vocation. There’s a difference between a vocation and charity work. You pillock.

@ Yvonne,

These are the official figures and the two worst are the louth and one of the midland hospitals where the rate is circa 17%.I’m not talking about sick time I’m talking about absenteeism. Don’t tell me about the dangers of the job the average absenteeism in the private sector is 2 %.

@ Egallag

educator researcher tweeter

‘ Go and Shite’ Really well thought out response.
‘no amount of money on Earth would pay me to be a nurse’ I thought it was about the vocation first and the money second and as for the research part of your description obviously not very good at that either

John, I think what Yvonne was asking for was a source, as in, who did the study and where can we find the figures ourselves. Stating that these are the ‘official’ figures means relatively nothing.

@ Gareth,

The public service numbers are those issued by the HSE themselves. The Private sector numbers are available on the CSO website

I query the accuracy of these official figures re. Absenteeism as HSE protocol requires all leave to be certified after three individual days of absence or on the second consecutive day off. I don’t think absenteeism is an issue, however sick leave levels are high due to the nature of the work. John the nature of work can not be disregarded as being part of the job. if you are sick and it’s infectious then you should not be working on a ward.

Sweetheart, when you want a dissertation on education, let me know. When I want one one procto-oral communication I’ll know who to call.

John agree with you nurses coming out of college will gladly take these positions. While nurses already in positions will say this is not on what they are doing to graduates. But reality is they could not care less , you will be another staff nurse on ward same responsibility accountable to ABA . I don’t agree what the Hse are trying to do . But it is a case of I am alright jack when it comes down to it . Should be boycotted but don’t think it will be because where are the government going to strike next teachers guards , paramedics, fire service etc.

Where have you got your misinformed information from?????

John- Is there any chance you could take your bible and cross, with yourself and go annoy the church for a while!

You name very few other careers where for twelve hours your body and brain are on full throttle. By three pm it is adrenalin meltdown. No food breaks and no time to use toilets.the frontline is the only reason all the others have jobs and their body’s don’t ache every night .

33000 in 2009, then down to 26000 and now 22000. I agree 33,000 was too high but 22,000 is far too low for the work they do. In the UK the start is 26,000 sterling and that’s considered low but the UK have better working conditions 1 nurse to 6 patients, here it’s 1 nurse to 12 patients.