Student health nurses urge Government to pay them €1,000 Covid bonus

Sean Farrell, from the Carlow branch of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, told the union’s conference in Dublin this morning that the recognition payment is not about money.

He was speaking on a motion calling on the union to pursue the pandemic bonus for section 39 employees, which was strongly endorsed by delegates.

He told delegates at the union’s annual conference in Croke Park that when the pandemic hit “we stood shoulder to shoulder with you”.

Mr Farrell said they “battened down the hatches”, advocated for patients and protected them, then licked their wounds, got up and moved on.

He said as a “token” the HSE announced a Covid bonus, except they did not give it to ‘section 39’ employees, who work in state-funded healthcare organisations.

“Section 39 employees were told it’s not the HSE’s responsibility, it’s the employer’s responsibility,” he said. “This is not about the money. It’s not. This is about the respect and recognition that our HSE colleagues got,” he said to a round of applause.

He called on the INMO to continue to pursue the bonus for ‘section 39’ workers who worked alongside their HSE colleagues. He said he is paid partly by the HSE, and partly by his employer.

Another delegate said she empathised fully with colleagues who did not get the recognition they deserve. She said student health nurses, who are non-HSE, were on the frontline looking after students who remained on campuses that were empty.

“I went to the doors of student accommodation in PPE and minded those students,” she said. “I looked after 300 international students for six months who could not travel and we have not been recognised either for the pandemic bonus and we feel disrespected and we empathise with our colleagues.”

The once-off bonus has been paid to nurses who were directly employed by the HSE during the pandemic and certain categories of private sector healthcare staff who worked in a “Covid-exposed” environment.

It was announced by the government in 2022, at a cost in excess of €100m.

Union official Albert Murphy said it is still pursing the Department of Health for the bonus but said eligibility is being defined in a restrictive way. He said there will be a meeting with the department shortly and the union would continue to pursue it.