Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Is it disenfranchising or does it have the potential to disenfranchise staff that are there? Increasingly we are seeing, not just in DIT but across the university sector, that people are being employed on short-term contracts. We are hearing that people are being given one research hour for one contact hour, which hardly adds to the credentials of the university sector.

While it might be cost effective in the short term if people are not on long-term contracts and their hours are reduced its sustainability does become a problem.