Dundalk councillors pass motion in support of nurses
A motion of ‘solidarity and support’ for the nurses and midwives who are on strike to demand ‘ a safe, full-staffed, functioning health service that values them and pays them as essential skilled workers’ was passed at last week’s Municipal District of Dundalk meeting.
The motion was moved by Sinn Fein Cllr Anne Campbell in place of her party colleague Cllr Ruairi O Murchu who was unable to attend the meeting.
Cllr Campbell said she ‘wholeheartedly supported’ the motion.
‘ The Government have not it one on a number of points regarding this issue,’ she said.
She discounted the argument that other public sector workers would be entitled to a pay claim if the nurses got an increase.
‘We can’t equate what nurses do with the rest of the public sector,’she declared.
She pointed out that the dispute wasn’t just about pay but about working conditions, which had got progressively worse over the last 10 years.
They nurses were not just taking industrial action for themselves but also for their patients.
She spoke of how proud she was of her brother who had switched careers to become a nurse and now works in one of the business ER departments in Dublin and has told her of the conditions which nurses have to work in.
‘I can tell you now that nurses don’t want to be on the picket line. They want to be doing what they are best at but they are not being listened to. They have demanded a fully functional staffed health service. The nurses’ cause is right, their actions are justified.’
Cllr Maeve Yore said she fully supported the motion. Noting that the Taoiseach gets the same salary as six nurses, she asked ‘Is he worth it?’
Cllr Tomas Sharkey said people shouldn’t be shocked at how few young people want to go into nursing, not just because of the pay, but because of the conditions.
Adding her support for the motion, Cllr Emma Coffey said : ‘when nurses take to the picket line, yuo know it is an issue. They are at the end of their tether.’ She voiced concerns about the number of young nurses and doctors who are emigrating.
Cllr Edel Corrigan felt it was important to support the motion and send out a message of solidarity to the nurses.
Chairman Cllr Conor Keeland said he too supported the motion as the decision to go out on strike was not one which the nurses had taken lightly.
He hoped for a speedy resolution to the dispute which a satisfactory result for the nurses.
Cllr Antoin Watters said he had a lot of family members working in the nursing profession and wanted to send out a message of solidarity.