Sir, – It would appear the Minister for Health is going to apply the 80 per cent starting rate to other health professionals in addition to newly recruited nurses (Breaking News, January 20th). What a great idea!
Perhaps the same criteria as regards salary should also be applied to first-time elected TDs and to first-time approved ministers, such as Dr James Reilly. After all, newly-qualified nurses and other health professionals have achieved professional qualifications appropriate to their discipline, whereas most elected politicians do not have a politically-related qualification, having only passed the ballot-box test. – Yours, etc,