Give our nurses the kind of pay they would get in the US or UK

COMPARING the starting salaries of Irish nurses to their counterparts in other parts of the world, one would have to wonder how we hold on to so many in our own country.

The salary offered in this country to our young nurse graduates is €29,056 on a 39-hour week. In other countries they get paid a much better starting salary.

In parts of Australia the starting salary is equal to €39,295; in Canada it is €43,012; in London they get paid €29,828 and in California they can earn €55,000.

The working week can vary in some places from 36 to 38 hours. In all cases, Ireland is bottom of the pile.

It seems a shame that after paying to educate our nurses to a very superb standard that is highly valued right across the world that we don’t value them to the same extent at home.

Those who choose to stay and work at home are run off their feet in a creaking-at-the-seams and chaotic health service because we failed to entice emigrant nurses home in recent years in anything like sufficient numbers to make up the shortfall.

In turn, such a move would give a much better service to the unfortunate patients in our overcrowded hospitals across the land.

Perhaps the time has now come to consider giving pay parity on nurse salaries with other countries in the more developed parts of the world. TOM TOWEY, Cloonacool, Co. Sligo.

Land of confusion

AS far as I can gather, the Brexiteers, who are the ‘tail wagging the British government dog’, plan to replace lost trade with the EU by negotiating lucrative deals with countless imaginary countries in an imaginary British empire.

Their contingency plan in the event of a no-deal Brexit had included awarding a contract to a shipping company that actually has no ships!

Huge imaginary freight ferries are to be loaded with imaginary exports in a port that needs extensive dredging and which is not fit for imaginary purpose.

Now, while this is all very interesting, it is not very funny.

The clock counting down to Brexit, and possible economic ruin, continues ticking in the background.

Yet it would appear the British government first needs to make an imaginary Brexit from Wonderland before attempting to grapple with the complexities of the real Brexit from the EU.

EUGENE CASSIDY, Co. Cavan.

Why the fuel hikes?

PRIOR the last budget, the Cabinet considered whether to impose additional duty on diesel motor fuel in order to limit its usage because of its alleged adverse effect on our environment.

In the event it was officially decided to leave the duty on both petrol and diesel as it was. At that stage, and up to a few months ago, there was a difference of 10c per litre between both fuel costs, diesel being the cheaper.

Despite the non-intervention in the budget, the cost of diesel has now increased to within 4c a litre of petrol at most pumps.

Motorists have not been given any explanation as to the reason for this creeping fuel increase. It seems the oil industry is imposing the charge that the Government ruled unreasonable and pocketing the extra profit. DENIS O’HIGGINS,

Monaghan.

Throwing it all away

THIS should be one of the richest countries in the world; we have a GDP of about €295billion.

Unfortunately the incompetence of this and previous governments means we don’t have enough doctors, nurses, carers, special-needs assistants, teachers and schools. The list is never-ending. The very sad part about all this is that these buffoons will be re-elected again.

JOHN FAIR, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.