Dr. Brendan Murphy:

Up to this academic year, we did not. However, in the context of industrial action by the Teachers Union of Ireland, under which it basically instructed its members to engage in no overtime whatsoever, there have been a number of cases in which, because of the specialised nature of the expertise being sought and the difficulty of operating at short notice - TUI does not issue such instructions until the beginning of the academic year - we have had occasion to look to retired staff. A note I have in front of me says that four lecturers who were retired have been brought back on a part-time basis, which means they are paid an hourly rate and are limited to a maximum of four hours per week. We have applied to the Higher Education Authority for permission to do this. It is not an ideal situation but relates specifically to areas where the required specialisation was not in ready supply and the academic semester had commenced. In the context of ensuring the delivery of the service to students, that was the decision we took.