Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Since the Bill was drafted, at institute of technology and university levels, there has been the development of a whole cadre of postgraduate students of various kinds who also may be in employment positions, giving tutorials or lectures in their respective institutions. A feature of their situation is that they may lack protection because they may not be staff per seor students per se. Their status is a difficulty for many of these young people. Adding the word “student”, as proposed in this amendment, may provide some extra provision for this category of person. There might be an opportunity to discuss this later, as the Minister of State has agreed to discuss other items.

It is a technical area. I worked for a long time as a senior staff member in an institute of technology. I am concerned at the conditions under which some postgraduates are working, their status and the fact that they may have little protection.

For example, in regard to campus companies, they may have very little protection in terms of their status. The Minister of State may be able to reassure us that all of this is accounted for but it is a newer and concerning development in the context of third level institutions. Will the Minister take a look at this provision with a view to advising us on how student staff will be affected by it because as things stand they tend to have a very low threshold of rights in all the third level institutions?