Student nurses were sent to work in one of the country's worst-hit nursing homes during the pandemic.
Chronic staff shortages at St Mary's Hospital in Dublin's Phoenix Park caused a need for cover staff.
The information was revealed in documents obtained by Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd, with details published in the Sunday Independent today.
The records show that students were drafted in to cover employees who had to self-isolate after either contracting COVID-19 or becoming a close contact.
The HSE says the students volunteered to work at St Mary's during the height of the pandemic and were paid.
It says they were temporarily hired as health care assistants as part of the national public health emergency response to the coronavirus.
A spokesperson for the HSE added: "The HSE would like to acknowledge the incredible role that all staff in St Mary’s Hospital have played during COVID-19, including student nurses who chose to work in partnership with other healthcare workers, and under the supervision of nursing staff."
Sinn Féin's Health Spokesperson David Cullinane said deploying student nurses to "plug staff shortages" was "appalling" and "clearly outrageous".
He said: "Throughout this pandemic, thousands of student nurses have bravely worked long, exhausting shifts, to keep our families and our communities safe.
"Despite the potential risks to themselves, they were willing to be exposed to COVID-19 to help others.
“Today’s revelations are yet more proof of the essential work that they do. They are the backbone of our healthcare system. They deserve fair pay and conditions."
'Frontline workers should be paid'
Earlier this week, the Government were accused of "exploiting" student nurses by the Opposition.
It follows the Cabinet's recent rejection of a motion to pay student nurses.
Speaking today, a Professor at the UCD School of Politics and International Relations said that regardless of whether nurses are on student placements, they should be paid as frontline workers.
Speaking to On The Record with Gavan Reilly, Aidan Regan said: "If they are doing frontline work, which is ultimately a health service, they should be paid for it.
"If you have people doing work they get paid for it, it doesn't matter if they're students on placement or not.
He said he was surprised that the Government had got the optics "so wrong" over the issue and that "the wise thing would have been to take a step back" and contemplate an "exceptional payment" for nurses given the circumstances.
Professor Regan said it wasn't a resource issue for the Government to pay nurses who have done exceptional work and that "structural systematic change" needs to take place.
He added: "The Minister [for Health] has to be involved and there has to be a managerial debate about that, but still, take a step back and say people have done work and they need to be paid for it."
