Student Nurses Face Financial Hardship, INMO Demands Mileage Rate Increase

Student nurse Christopher O’Dwyer worked 90-hour weeks, combining 37.5 unpaid hospital placement hours with extended night shifts at an emergency accommodation centre due to financial struggles. He highlights that the first three years of nursing and midwifery placements are unpaid, leading to hardship, despite students being eligible for up to €300 weekly for accommodation. In the fourth year, students receive 80 percent of a graduated nurse’s salary. O’Dwyer knows students who lived in cars due to insufficient funding and advocates for earlier student salaries, noting that first-year students are immediately involved in patient care.

Rebecca Brennan, a final-year nursing student from Cavan, spent over €100 weekly on diesel for her Drogheda internship, driving 3,500km in the last month. While receiving 80 percent of a new graduate’s salary, she finds it insufficient. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) conference in Dundalk passed two emergency motions addressing the cost-of-living crisis affecting nurses and midwives.

One motion, proposed by Liz Balfe, called for urgent engagement with the HSE and policymakers to immediately increase mileage and subsistence rates for nurses and midwives using private cars for public services. Balfe stated nurses cannot afford to use their cars, deeming the situation «totally unacceptable in 2026» and impacting patient care. The second motion from the INMO executive council noted the financial pressure on healthcare workers due to the cost-of-living crisis. It sought fuel crisis supports, a one percent local bargaining clause, and a deal for manager grades. Delegates authorized the executive council to consider industrial action if progress is delayed.