Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with everything Deputies Catherine Murphy and Sherlock have said. I welcome that the HEA is undertaking to compile the information to allow us form a better view of what appear to be tens of thousands of people working in hourly roles across the higher education institutes.

We should not lose sight of the particular line of questioning that arose out of the previous Committee of Public Accounts, dating back to 2019. During a hearing and in subsequent correspondence, it emerged that Maynooth University was operating a bizarre system whereby hourly staff were required to claim their holiday entitlements by submitting paper forms. Hourly workers across society are more prone to being exploited and it is important in a forum such as our higher education sector that we have a robust system in place whereby people receive their entitlements. As well as compiling the detail as to how many hourly workers institutes employ, I suggest we ask the HEA to clarify whether it can say with confidence that all workers with hourly-type contracts receive statutory holiday pay as of course, rather than having to implement some convoluted system for entitlements to be claimed. In our further correspondence, I would appreciate if we put that question to the HEA.