Willie Kealy: 'Putting a price on priceless work of nurses'

Yes, nurses are fantastic, but we need to set aside sentiment and concentrate on industrial relations, writes Willie Kealy

Looking at the work that our nurses do in such trying circumstances as currently exist in the Irish health service, there is no doubt it is priceless (stock picture)

Nurses are great. We all love nurses. That's what everybody says. And anyone who has spent any time under their care in a hospital ward says it frequently. If that sounds a little sentimental, it doesn't mean our appreciation is any less genuine.

But the question we have to ask is: as a country can we afford to translate our admiration for the members of the nursing profession into paying them whatever money they feel they deserve?