Student Nurses Face Financial Hardship, Unpaid Placements, and Health Issues

Student nurses Christopher O’Dwyer (33) and Rebecca Brennan (28) have highlighted the severe financial strain of completing unpaid clinical placements, which are mandatory for qualification. Both considered abandoning their studies due to the burden of working unpaid for 81 weeks over four years, with only the final 36 weeks of internship paid at 80% of a graduate wage.

Brennan, commuting daily from Cavan to Drogheda for her internship, spends over €100 weekly on diesel, driving 3,500 km in the last month alone. She accessed a student hardship fund last year due to delayed travel reimbursement. O’Dwyer, interning at Mater hospital in Dublin, worked extended night shifts in homelessness services after his 37.5-hour unpaid hospital shifts to make ends meet. This led to severe thyroid issues, and he noted other students sleep in cars or hostels due to unaffordable accommodation.

Payments for lunches and travel are often delayed by months. The nurses argue that without increased government financial support, aspiring nurses and midwives will be priced out of the profession, leading to burnout before careers even begin. They spoke at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s annual conference, where leaders urged the government for a cost-of-living package for frontline workers.