‘Do week on my ward, covidiots'

A FINAL year student nurse, who took a pay cut this month as she started her internship, says the anti-mask protesters should do her job for a week.

- ELAINE KEOGH

Donna Irwin, 27, is just one of hundreds of final year nurses who begin their nine-month internships in January.

She said: “Little did we know we’d be commencing it in a global pandemic.”

She is critical of the pay rate for the student nurses and added: “This Government has decided that it’s acceptable to pay us less than €10-an-hour as intern nurses.”

Donna decided to study to be an intellectual disability nurse after working in the area as a Healthcare Assistant.

She said: “I, like many others, am taking a pay cut from my HCA job to go on internship with an increased workload and responsibility.