Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today, we are celebrating Science Week. We are honouring the achievements of science and we are recognising the success of science and the progress that has been brought about by scientific research. I recognise that the Minister mentioned that we need to do everything we can to make sure that a career in science is available to everybody. This week, the education committee went on a visit to the Holy Family School for the Deaf in Cabra. It was a fantastic visit. We visited both the primary and secondary schools. In the primary school, we heard that first class were doing experiments every day of that week and that all the classes were looking at really celebrating science and participating in it . When we are looking at that, we need to make sure that we are doing everything that we can and to value those who are working in science. The Minister mentioned PhD researchers who are making invaluable scientific discoveries. We need to do everything we can for them and make sure we are valuing them as fairly as possible. As we know, those who are in their early careers as academics often have to endure quite precarious conditions in terms of their employment in third level institutions. We need to do everything that we can to keep people within research-based careers.

Next week, in the audiovisual room, I will be hosting the launch of the recent report of the Irish Federation of University Teachers on precariousness in academia. To be frank, while we celebrate science, all the achievements and the fact that so many people are participating in Science Week, which is really important, we also need to make sure that we are aware of the difficulties and the issues, because the report does make for sober reading. We cannot have a situation whereby we value the output of scientific research without recognising the essential inputs which make scientific research possible.

I have spoken to many students who are just beginning to pursue their scientific degrees. As we know, many students have had to go outside of Ireland because perhaps courses are not available. They might have to go to different places in the EU. There is also the issue of accommodation costs. The fees may be even higher abroad, but because the accommodation costs are significantly lower the net cost to the students is lower. I note that the Minister made a very significant announcement post budget in relation to accommodation to the effect that there is significant additional funding that could be made available for technological universities and other traditional universities, which will come from the European Investment Bank and will be matched by the Housing Finance Agency. As the Minister is aware, the technological universities have the difficulty and the issue around being able to borrow. It is something that needs to be resolved. Perhaps today the Minister might explain in greater detail that particular announcement. Of course, as with all announcements, the devil is in the detail. It is important to have that level of detail. We know that many of our universities already have significant borrowings, so it will be interesting to see how much appetite they have in relation to taking on more. I am conscious that I am constantly mentioning the issue of affordability as well. If we want to make this area better and we want as many science students to be able to stay here rather than having to go abroad, it will be essential that there is that affordability element.

In relation to PhD researchers, we have had the publication of the independent report on stipends, which recommended an increase to €25,000. I am aware that there is significant variation in stipend rates across institutions. There are different categories of stipends, whether they are funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council, its succeeding body or the institutions themselves. We will really need to look at the role the Minister is playing in relation to helping to implement the report's key recommendation on that increase to €25,000. Another issue that is impacting on PhD researchers is that they are currently excluded from the student rent tax credit. I do not fully understand how that has been able to happen. I have raised the issue directly with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. It seems to me that this would have been something that would have been good to tease out or figure out in the most recent Finance Bill. We know that PhD students are struggling. The Postgraduate Workers' Organisation of Ireland has been very clear with us in relation to its own demand and also the fact that many PhD researchers are struggling. There is the issue with taxation and as a result of that, they cannot access the rent tax credit. It is something that I think really does need to be looked at because it is an issue that has been raised with me. It is a missed opportunity and something that we can hopefully look at going forward.

The other issue is the fact that many lecturers are struggling with the precarity of contracts. Many lecturers are on rolling contracts from year to year. It is an historic issue that has been going on for a long period of time. We know that almost one third, or 32%, are employed on fixed-term or hourly-paid casual contracts, academics are working, on average, 11 hours per week over their normal hours without additional compensation, and 61% of causal hourly-paid employees do not get paid for time between terms. Many workers on precarious employment contracts report elevated levels of stress and have considered actually leaving academia. I spoke to one man who works in the area of microelectronics. He trains people in very complicated areas related to the production of microchips and processors. He is extremely passionate about his job and absolutely loves research and teaching, but the fact that he cannot get permanency impacts on his life. Planning things like getting a mortgage and starting a family have proven very difficult. As a result, he is thinking that at some point he may have to make the decision to leave. If that were to happen, we would lose a knowledge base which can be very hard to replace.

I want to touch on some of the other constraints in relation to research in our universities, some of which are from the last crash. For example, the issue of the employment control framework is one that is continuously being raised with me. Ireland has one of the highest ratios of students to staff in the OECD, yet thousands of employees in the sector are involuntarily and inappropriately on fixed-term, term-time, part-time, casual, if-and-when kind of contracts.

Of course, universities' level of autonomy should extend to deciding what staff they need rather than having to consistently use all these creative contractual arrangements to get around this.

Then there is the issue of the funding gap. I acknowledge that progress was made in this year's and last year's budgets. However, at a time when we are running surpluses and setting up new sovereign funds, we need to make sure we are closing this gap sooner rather than later. Since I mentioned the issue of the new funds, we should also look at the National Training Fund in the absence of any fund for university research equipment and consumables. It seems clear to me that the National Training Fund as currently constituted is not fit for purpose. Funds we could be using for further training and skills seem to be stuck in limbo. I am sure the Minister is aware from speaking to a variety of people that nobody seems to be satisfied with it. I struggle to see the benefit because it is not doing what it says on the tin or what it is supposed to be doing, which is helping to fund training on a national level. It is not earning much of a yield either. It is sitting in short-term Irish Exchequer notes. We seem to be incurring a major opportunity cost here.

I am also aware of the Pact for Skills, the plan for 21st century skills. I believe the latest indication is that it will be late next year before there is any movement on this. Maybe the Minister could comment on that also. We only recently had the 2023 national skills bulletin produced by SOLAS. It identifies skills shortages in science, engineering, ICT, health and social care, construction, other craft, hospitality, transport and logistics. All the while, the National Training Fund continues to grow in size but not in significance. It is up to €1.5 billion but looks no closer to being put into the kind of productive use so many people are calling for.

It is also time to consider a special purpose fund for university research equipment and consumables. These are key to scientific-based research and are major overheads for the universities. This is something the sector has been calling for. As it is not completely unrelated to the National Training Fund, has the Department given any consideration to this? One of the big issues the big universities are constantly raising is making sure they have state-of-the-art, modern-day equipment to make sure they can continue in the work they are doing. This is quite a significant issue for them. We all want it to be as good as possible and to promote innovation and science here. It is important to make sure we have equipment that is up to date.

In the context of a united Ireland and greater North-South co-operation in research and higher education, I want to mention the shared island unit. That is not under the Minister's Department but the research it is funding, particularly the partnerships between different forms of medical research, is relevant. I hope we see more and increasing partnerships and collaboration between universities in the North and the South. I was recently in Queen's University Belfast where I met some people who have direct collaborations North and South. It is important this week that we recognise the achievements of Irish scientists wherever they were born on this island. It absolutely timely to celebrate all of them. Ireland has a very long and proud scientific tradition, having produced science which made great and historic contributions to the sum of human knowledge. Robert Boyle is often referred to the father of chemistry. Ernest Walton was a physicist and Nobel laureate. Then there are the great women of Irish science like Ellen Hutchins, the pioneering botanist and Edith Anne Stoney, who is believed to be the first woman medical physicist. There are many others, so many more than we could ever name here. In a week such as this, let us not just value the output of science. We need to make sure we recognise and call for the rewarding of those who make the inputs possible.

Agus an tSeachtain Eolaíochta ann faoi láthair, sílim go bhfuil sé ríthábhachtach go bhfeicfimid go bhfuil chuile shórt á dhéanamh sna scoileanna freisin agus go bhfuil deis ag scoileanna freisin, ar nós na cinn i mo cheantar féin i nGaillimh, rudaí eolaíochta a dhéanamh. Is cuimhin liom, nuair a bhí mé ar an scoil, go raibh deiseanna áille agus iontacha ann. Uaireanta, d'fhéadfaimis dul amach agus plé le daoine a bhíodh ag obair san earnáil.

Ach, mar gheall ar na daoine atá ag obair san earnáil, tá a fhios againn go bhfuil deacrachtaí ar leith acu faoi láthair. Caithfimid a chinntiú go bhfuil conarthaí maithe ag na daoine atá ag obair sna hollscoileanna. Go háirithe, tá a fhios agam nach mbíonn conarthaí sách maith acu go minic agus, mar gheall air sin, nach bhfuil na deiseanna céanna acu is atá ag daoine, cosúil leis an deis morgáiste a fháil nó cosúil le, fiú amháin, tús a chur clann a bheith acu, agus chuile shórt mar sin, mar gheall go bhfuil siad faoi bhrú uafásach, agus mar gheall nach bhfuil siad in ann a rá go mbeidh siad san ollscoil sin bliain i ndiaidh bliana. Caithfimid a chinntiú, nuair atáimid ag plé le cúrsaí eolaíochta agus ag plé leis na buntáistí ar fad a bhaineann leis an eolaíocht, go bhfuilimid ag plé freisin leis na daoine iad féin atá ag obair san earnáil chun a chinntiú gur deis mhaith í do dhaoine agus gur féidir le daoine saol maith a bheith acu agus iad ag obair san earnáil seo. Tá sé sin ríthábhachtach.

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