An improved deal for student nurses was demanded by the Fine Gael spokesman on health in a Private Member's motion. Mr Alan Shatter said the weekly grant of £57.69 should be increased to £75, adding that the unemployment allowance of £68 a week was greater than what they received. He said the free meals, to which they were entitled, should available to them.

"The fact that free meals are not being provided where lectures are being undertaken in third-level institutions, and the Department of Health has declined to meet the costs of such meals, is a clear breach of the original terms surrounding the interim model for nursing education."

Mr Shatter said student nurses were effectively treated as the Cinderellas of the health system. "It is time, I believe, for us to move away from the Cinderella syndrome and to acknowledge the value of the work undertaken by student nurses and to recognise and alleviate the hardship and difficulty which many of them suffer during the course of their study years."

He added that student nurses were unique when compared to almost all other third-level students. They undertook a course which was partly academic, but which also over a three-year period involved a substantial practical commitment of great benefit to the community. They were required to undertake a 35-hour week.

The Labour spokeswoman on health, Ms Roisin Shortall, accused the Government of adopting a "dismissive and minimalist" approach towards student nurses.

"They have pursued this short-sighted course of action despite the crisis facing health boards in recruiting nurses. It is an abysmal policy, dictated by a parsimonious and penny-pinching Minister for Finance."

The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Cowen, said that he had increased by 20 per cent the grants for students at third-level colleges studying nursing. He had also provided special payments to students doing clinical placements and who must find new accommodation during those periods.

Debate on the motion continues tonight.