Nursing students threaten to walk out on fees issue

Student nurses will walk off ward duty from Wednesday if the issue of their fees is not "significantly on the way to resolution", the president of the Union of Students of Ireland, Mr Philip Madden, says.

According to USI figures, there are about 3,100 student nurses in the State. Between 800 and 1,000 of them protested outside the Dail yesterday against having to pay fees to study nursing to degree level.

Speaking after the rally, Mr Madden said the USI had given the Minister for Health, Dr Martin, a deadline of next Wednesday to respond to their demands.

While other full-time undergraduates have not had to pay fees since their abolition in 1995, student nurses studying to degree level pay about £2,000 a year. "It's discrimination," Mr Madden said. "When Micheal Martin was Minister for Education he said this was a problem for the Department of Health. Well, it's now his problem."

Addressing the rally earlier, he said it was "about time Mr Martin stopped discriminating against student nurses. There are 1,000 unfilled nursing posts in Dublin at the moment. For the nurses who want to study to degree level, they make it too damn hard."

Mr Alan Shatter, Fine Gael spokesman on health, said his and other parties in opposition had raised the issue of student nurses' fees "several times" in the Dail over the past two years.

"Micheal Martin understands the importance of education," he said. Resolving the issue in favour of student nurses was "in the interests of patients, in the interests of the health service and in the interests of attracting the additional people so badly needed into the nursing profession".

Mr Michael D. Higgins, the Labour Party spokesman on education, called on the four Independent TDs to put pressure on the Government on the fees issue.

"Mr [Jackie] Healy-Rae could change the Government's view faster than changing his cap," he said. "But the potholes in Kerry are clearly more important than getting the right people into the health service."

He said his party would put a parliamentary question to the Minister on the issue today.