Recall “vote yes for jobs and stability”. It looks like some intellectually stupid voters had another missed opportunity. They knew this would happen if they voted Fine Gael.

Mark Dalt
I don’t think we knew it was going to turn out this way .People voted for what FG said ,not realising they were all telling lies. I voted FG . I apologise and I will never vote for them labour, FF, Greens again. However , they were voted in to get FF/Greens out . They lied .
The nurses are entitled to a proper wage , I wish them well and I support them .
This all started years ago when they introduced productivity into the civil service and then tried to do the same
for the frontline public service, which can not be measured in terms of productivity. It has been a down ward spiral since.
It is an absolute disgrace that nurses who are continually upkeeping their qualifications after 4 years of study are subjected to these petty and ignorant cuts to their pay.

Eileen – a “proper wage” can only be paid if the employer is solvent. It is bankrupt. Where do you suggest the money comes from?

starting salary of €33,470

Mark they are after cutting that starting salary already and the one they are looking to offer to new graduates is for 22k! I am busting myself going back to college as a mature student let alone kids going without also but at this rate i must be nuts as i would earn more working in lidl without having to take 4 years out to study and train my butt off! Nurses wages have been hit by about 34% cuts already! Not looking to qualify for money obviously but 22k really is taking the biscuit!

11am, Croke Park.

But nurses get 3 months off in the summer.

Hang on…….!

And get off at 3-4pm everyday whilst I work 13 hour shifts. Justice!

Without wanting to sound like I’m giving out, his isn’t helping. The septic tank protest failed because it became an urban/rural thing, the student protests failed because it became an age thing, and then there’s the constant public/private sector catfight. Teachers and nurses both got shafted, arguably worse than everybody else, and instead of arguing over who got off worse, just remember that you’re in the same boat. How much more of an impact would this protest make if the teachers unions had been invited? I don’t mean that to criticise, but it should be considered in the future. Rant over, see you tomorrow.

Oh here we go the divide and conquer brigade are here. Get real people . Do not be distracted. Nurses are not teachers. Gardai are not Prison Officers. Firemen are not soldiers. Yet they all ,each do an incredible well disciplined job BUT different disciplines. Support the Nurses. Then maybe the teachers and the gardai Prison officers army will be fairly treated down the line also. Do not allow anyone to divide ,distract and conquer us.

Brendan ….
I think you will find that the Septic tank protest has not failed …
but you are correct , they will do anything to divide us , to conquer us.
Rant over.
Eileen.

Except the cost of living is higher in Australia.

As is the wage..basic understanding you don’t have

And so is the nurses salary. With better working hours and professional development opportunities.

More wages, less tax, and better facilities!! Whereas in Ireland your worked to the ground

Australian wages are LOW. That is the reason taxes there are low. However, Australian cost of living (food, rent, transport) is ENORMOUS. Ask anyone who went there.

Simple way of dealing with this is to disband the Degree Programme for Nurses as Australia has done and bring all salaries in line with the new entry level but add increments for service. I’m fed up hearing about these ward clerical officers ( which I have personally witnessed as a client of the Health Service over the past four years) and lets move on.
If nurses want to move to Timbuktu then let them as a matter of choice but let’s also make sure that people who walk away within a defined time from their expensive education which is largely funded by the State, they should be asked to pay back such monies.

I don’t even know where to begin…..

That’s not true. A graduate nurse is on 60k aus dollars. I’m not going to look it up the exchange but say 47-48k euros? And the 60k graduate wage is correct as I am Australian and my friend is a nurse. It’s ridiculous money. Yeah things are expensive in Australia but the wages more than compensate.

Apologies for the grammar. I’m on the couch watching father ted

Michael J Collins? More like Margaret H Thatcher.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-04/imf-officials-we-were-wrong-about-austerity.html

They did, twice. We get paid 30-40% less than those who graduated when we started medical school.

Docs have taken cuts aplenty.

Consultants salaries cut by almost 40% for new entrants in the last four years. This article is about the nurses though.

A hate based policy will not help. A government cannot spend money it doesn’t have.

There is loads of money its just wasted by a bunch of half witted mongerals

MVM,

You lack even the basic understanding why more people are unemployed.

Where to start:

- Since 2008, Ireland has suffered a DEBT crisis due to sharp economic downturn and bank bailouts. Interesting you failed to mention anything about the 32% of GDP going to the Banks.

- Unions in the public sector feather their own nest egg in order to protect themselves at the expense of the people paying their keep.

- Croke Park Agreement requires sacrifices from all sides.

Aren’t I lucky your here to correct me….? Eh no your wrong money is just wasted

@ MVM

Nonsense. The government doesn’t “create jobs”. A government’s responsibility is to preserve the free market. The fact you aspire to becoming a government worker suggests you are a taker who likes an easy ride in life because of the generous conditions in being a public servant in Ireland (severance pay, guaranteed pension, reasonable hours, reasonable perks, etc).

Take responsibility and look for a job in the private sector if you feel that strong.

Exactly! The HSE simply cannot afford the massive salary bill and as the vast majority of their budget is allocated to wages and salaries then it is logical certain cuts have to be made here.

No one wants to see cuts to the wages of frontline staff but the reality of the situation is that the saving have to come from somewhere.

Everyone has taken cuts along the way at some point.

@its… they said they do and promised more jobs..maybe a little more of a background on the government might help you

@ MVM

There are plenty of Nurses from Europe to replace you…. So LEAVE… No one is stopping you.

MVM
If you work in the Public Service we all have a problem! Your basic English is so deficient that you’re likely to be unable to fulfil your basic function. Too many your when you’re at fault!

There is No money. We have the second highest deficit in the Eurozone.

@its…I’m not a nurse(I do pay myself well and treat my employees fair and lucky haven’t had to make anyone redundant) I just think its a farse how nurses,gards etc are treated maybe when you have to leave the security of sitting in college and try find work your attitude will change

Get a job in a different trade, you don’t have to be a nurse.
If you don’t like the wages go elsewhere, nobody is forcing you to work here.

The health service is in a mess! Chronic problem of overcrowding and understaffing in the acute hospitals and closing some emergency services to other hospitals. I’ve started seeing things that shouldn’t happen.

Nurses from Europe?
ITS student – why do you think nurses will come here with the shite conditions (and I’m not just talking about money, there’s the understaffing and the under resourced health system to deal with)
Nurses from another country are not a solution

Duh, nurse wage low, try a different job. No brainer.

You idiot Paul
You have’nt been in hospital have you?
Wait till you need a nurse and you’re lying on a trolley for a couple of days, and there is not enough nurses to look after you because the government persists with this nonsense (after all the other stupid policies like the recruitment ban)

Dave, you plonker!
They don’t have to take the job, what part of this do you not get?
Free will etc.
Just because somebody does a particular job does not mean they are entitled to a particular wage – duh!

@PAUL MC

So what will you do then Paul when you get sick? Who will look after you? If all the nurses just decide to leave their jobs because ‘nobody is forcing them to work here’ what will you/your mother/your son/your wife do when they’re sick? What an idiotic comment.

So should public sector wages and their pensions.

Fair play

What’s a nurses wage in Ireland?

200 euro? a week? Less? I sincerely doubt that you are correct.

Why so many thumbs down for Danny? Is it possible they come from civil servants who want their pay to be kept a secret from benchmarking to Eurozone levels?

ITS, I gave you a thumbs down, I am a public servant, after tax I earn approx 24,000 a year, that’s around 7,000 less than the average industrial wage, as an Special needs assistant I get 14 weeks a year off, my pay reflects that, yes I will have a pension at the end-which I have contributed to also, I find it insulting and hilarious that 4 years ago no one gave a shit about me or my job- in fact one friend said’i wouldn’t do your job for love nor money’ yet now I find my job and me vilified every day by the media and ignorant people such as yourself, this job is a vocation to me, I never gave a second thought to my wages or pension, want to swap places for a day?

That puts in a parallel with Germany then, what is everybody bitching about?

Oh well done, compare Ireland to Germany, another country where nurses are looked upon like dirt, sure that’ll fix the HSE.

Not looked on as dirt you twit, nobody said that. The wages are the wages – don’t take the feckin job if the wages are crap.
Did you ever hear of supply and demand?
The laws of economics.

Susan O Connell,

In my experience, I had to endure a lot of bureaucracy, poor service, and abuse of power for simple things like getting a drivers license. This is the result of a big government – you have to justify your existence and you also have to be paid. I care about my freedom more than anything, but when my freedom is being taken, I don’t care if it mistaken by the government, or by society. I care simply that it is being taken. In reality, your neighbors can take your freedom just as easily as the government can. This is the reason applications are being made more difficult for everything resulting in people not getting their drivers license due to the massive regulatory hurdles caused by a big government.

We need to downsize the government – for example abolish the RSA, Irish Water, PRTB and free up the market for ordinary people trying to live their lives.

Jesus Wiseman is that true, no bloody sympathy so…son did mechanical engineering in TCD four years, just like the nurses, had to leave no jobs here, works in UK, same graft but not same salary, get real unions!

?33,000? Thats not alot really, although i know lots of people don’t earn it. But nurse’s are not the sort of public servants that deserve to be squeezed anymore. They are not responsable for the countrys cock up. Hard working, long hours, abused and under appreciated group of people that would nurse people (including the people who tar public workers with one big brush) back to health.

As a STARTING salary I’d say its terrific – just out of college ???