Sir, - I write on behalf of a group of 12 nurses who work in care of the elderly in the Eastern Health Board area. We operate with a very high patient/nurse ratio as our work is regarded as non-acute. During the recent nurses' strike the vacancies normally filled by agency nurses were not filled, so the staff here worked alternate days and nights 12-hour shifts for the duration of the strike.
We are aware that the State saved approximately £16 million by not paying the nurses for all the emergency cover provided. We feel, that instead of this money being kept by the Exchequer, the poor and homeless of this country should benefit by having a hostel built during the millennium year for Focus Point, the Simon Community or the St Vincent de Paul Society.
Such a hostel would be welcomed by all and would not be another white elephant, like some of the suggestions to commemorate the millennium. - Yours, etc., Margot Lydon,
Cork Street, Dublin 8.