Ninth Level Ireland

“The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has launched a petition calling on Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to pay nursing interns the same rate as healthcare assistants. Final-year nursing students are required to complete an internship before finishing their degree. Interns are currently paid the minimum wage …” (more)

[Sárán Fogarty, University Times, 25 November]

“Talks on a new pay deal for 340,000 public servants are set to kick off after the government formally invited unions to negotiations. The Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions met this morning and decided to accept an invitation on a successor to the current agreement …” (more)

[Anne-Marie Walsh, Independent, 24 November]

“Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar has ruled out significant pay rises for government employees in the next public service agreement. But he described pay inequality for post-2012 recruits as an unfair ‘running sore’, which had never been intended to last forever …” (more)

[Ingrid Miley, RTÉ News, 23 November]

“There have been renewed calls for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and the HSE to end the practice of unpaid work by student nurses in hospitals across Ireland. The Labour Party’s spokeswoman for higher education, Senator Annie Hoey, called on the Government to act, reiterating that student nurses on the frontline ‘can’t live on applause and platitudes’ …” (more)

[Jack O’Gorman, College Tribune, 21 November]

“‘I’ve never settled down. You can end up not having a family. I don’t have pets – I foster – as you just don’t know if you’re going to be around or not.’ Dr Ingrid Holme, adjunct research fellow in sociology at UCD, has worked as a lecturer and researcher in universities across Ireland and the UK for more than the past decade …” (more)

[Maria Delaney, Noteworthy.ie, 15 November]

“Ten staff members at Queen’s University Belfast earn more than £150,000 annually, a new report has revealed. The TaxPayers’ Alliance today published its 2020 University Rich List. It ranks Queen’s 96th in the UK top 100 …” (more)

[Gillian Halliday, Belfast Telegraph, 12 November]

“Student nurses are continuing the fight for paid placements during the global Covid-19 crisis. The INMO has released a statement pleading with the government to reinstate the temporary HCA initiative, that was opened last March and ended shortly after …” (more)

[Caitlin Reddie, Limerick Voice, 11 November]

“Student nurses who are on the front line of the fight against Covid-19 are still not being paid, but they are hopeful the minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will listen to their pleas. The Department of Health is engaging with trade unions on revising the existing student nurse and midwife allowances for clinical placements, and they say the process should be completed ‘in the coming days’ …” (more)

[BreakingNews.ie, 2 November]

“Few people are under the illusion that health-science placements are easy: long hours, truckloads of information to absorb, patients to care for and – in many cases – no pay. This newspaper has previously documented the gruelling conditions of a health science work placement. In 2019, health science students spoke about working two jobs to keep afloat, long days and nights, chaotic hospital scenes and no pay. One midwifery student went as far as saying that placement was akin to ‘slave labour’ …” (more)

[University Times, 25 October]

“The largest public service union, Fórsa has warned of potential industrial relations chaos in the new year after the current Public Service Stability Agreement expires in December. Formal negotiations on a successor deal between the Government and public service unions have yet to get under way …” (more)

[Ingrid Miley, RTÉ News, 22 October]

“Student nurses and midwives are being exploited during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has claimed. It said on Friday that students on placements in hospitals across Ireland were facing additional Covid risks but were ‘effectively being asked to work as staff for no pay’ …” (more)

[Martin Wall, Irish Times, 16 October]

“The country is facing the threat of industrial unrest as public expenditure minister Michael McGrath warned that a new public-sector pay deal ‘simply may not be achievable’. In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr McGrath warned of a ‘messy and problematic’ fallout should a deal not be agreed …” (more)

[Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner, 5 October]

“Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the use of postgraduates in precarious positions for teaching and other duties is increasing in NUIG and that the university expects postgraduate workers to carry out unpaid teaching; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that postgraduates at NUIG have declared their intention to refuse to carry out work which is not remunerated at the existing collectively bargained rate; and the steps he will take to meet the demands of postgraduate workers (details supplied) …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 1 October]

“Nine staff members at University College Cork (UCC) earned over €240,000 last year, compared to zero in that earning category in 2018. That is according to the 2019 financial statements for UCC, which show the college’s pre-tax losses last year increased more than four-fold to €5.6m …” (more)

[Gordon Deegan, Irish Examiner, 29 September]

“Student nurses are continuing the call on the Government for financial support as they continue to risk their health in COVID-filled hospitals on a full-time basis …” (more)

[Ali Condon, Extra.ie, 28 September]

“Thinking through the implications of Friday’s announcement for teaching I saw the following advice sent out to students from Maynooth University: ‘For the next few weeks most lectures will move online. You will be invited on-campus for practical classes, tutorials and for the teaching which requires a lot of interaction …'” (more)

[In the Dark, 27 September]

“Some staff at financially struggling universities and colleges are being paid in book tokens, the Oireachtas spending watchdog has heard. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is to ask the Higher Education Authority to appear before TDs to answer questions about the impact of gaping deficits in third-level funding …” (more)

[Brian Hutton and Shauna Bowers, Irish Times, 24 September]

“New pay restoration measures due to be made to higher earning public-service personnel in the months ahead will cost €42 million, the Department of Public Expenditure has said. About 340,000 staff across the public service will receive pay increases of 2% from the beginning of October …” (more)

[Martin Wall, Irish Times, 24 September]

“More than 100 jobs are currently up for grabs in Ireland’s top education institutions. You could be paid more than €150,000 a year to work in some of the country’s best universities. And while you’ll have to be very well qualified to work in many of these jobs, it always worth having a look as there are some very varied roles available …” (more)

[Sam Roberts, Irish Mirror, 22 September]

“New research shows that female graduates in Ireland expect to earn up to 14% less than their male counterparts a year. The latest global talent market research by Irishjobs.ie, in partnership with employer brand specialist Universum, reveals a significant difference in the annual salary expectations of male and female graduates …” (more)

[RTÉ News, 22 September]