We’re all angry, but can we agree to pay student nurses?
Bradley Bytes - a sort of political column with Dara Bradley
Everyone is impacted by the country’s move to Level 5. And everyone is angry at Lockdown 2.
The GAA. Publicans. The hospitality and entertainment sector. Airlines. Theatres. Cinemas. Hairdressers. Gym users. Gym owners. Non-essential retail. Brides-to-be. Grooms-to-be. Funeral-home directors. Mass goers. House party-goers. Off-licences. Cancer patients. Patients on hospital waiting-lists. Pensioners. Landlords. Students. Renters. Young people. Older people. Middle-aged people. Women. Men. Children.
All constrained. All complaining. All angry. And they all have valid reasons to be.
Heck, even sectors of society that are open aren’t happy.
Teachers. Builders. Bus drivers. Gardaí. Supermarket workers. An Post staff. Meat factory workers. Some elite senior inter-county GAA players.
They’re all wondering are they safe. Those still in jobs are overworked. Those without them, and who lost jobs this week, fret about Christmas costs, mortgage repayments and keeping the wolf from their door.
Whether you supporter tighter lockdown restrictions or not, nobody wants them. It’s true that most people will answer ‘yes’ when asked by pollsters if they agree that Level 5 restrictions were necessary.
But nobody actually wants curbs on their freedoms. Everyone is aggrieved by the protective measures. Some are more aggrieved than others, and some are more inconvenienced by them than others. One boozer’s Dry November is another nail in the coffin of someone’s boozer, and livelihood.
What everyone wants is to go back to normal. Or something resembling normal. And if Level 5 for six weeks is what it takes, then most will suck it up. Reluctantly. Because we’re told it will save lives.
It’s difficult to create a hierarchy of the most put-upon. Are those living in Direct Provision worse off than mostly-foreign workers in meat factories? The GAA can have a senior inter-county championship, but safe gyms can’t open. Sporty children can train in pods of 15 outdoors but kids with other interests can’t go the library, or Irish dancing, or speech and drama.
Another lockdown is sh*t. Those bar staff or publicans who have, perhaps, pulled their last pint know it. The minor or U20 inter-county hurlers and footballers, whose season has been postponed, indefinitely, know it. The teachers living in fear that the 30 children in their class could infect them know it.
We all know it. But do you know who really knows it? Student nurses.
Student nurses and midwives on placements in our hospitals get either nothing or a €50 allowance per week. They are effectively asked to do the same job as staff nurses, without reward but with similar Covid-19 risks.
They can’t supplement their income while on placement by working in nursing homes, because of the risk of cross-infection. In Lockdown 1, we paid them healthcare assistant salaries. It didn’t break the bank. We should do it again. Immediately. Channel your anger at that exploitation, not at each other. (Photo shows a nurses' strike outside UHG last year) For more Bradley Bytes, see this week's Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.