Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody for coming in today and for being very honest. I appreciate the honesty in the room today. I am very glad that Dr. Kennedy presented to us today around contracts. In some cases, a university such as Maynooth might get in a member of the Traveller community to give a lecture to a class and it is a one-off. I agree about those kinds of payments, but people will not be living off one hour of classes and they do not know where they will be in six months. That is inappropriate. We have to work together as a committee to get basic working rights because it is not just about education but about working rights as well.

I have a general question for all of the witnesses. We have been on the subject of the funding of higher and further education for the last while. Without repeating anything that I have said in the past, how do we future proof our higher and further education system? I would appreciate a brief answer. In response to Senator Pauline O'Reilly, Dr. Younus said it is about merit but it is also about investing in women and giving women a hand up, not a handout. In many cases, we see that women can do the jobs but they just do not get the support they need to be able to be successful.

One of my friends is a Traveller woman and she has been doing a doctorate for many years as a single parent despite the cost of rent and the cost of living in Ireland for ethnic minority women. One has to be from an ethnic minority group to really understand the level of inequality and the level of challenges that ethnic minority women face.

You are at an even greater disadvantage when you are a woman from an ethnic minority group. What are conditions like for women from ethnic minority groups? The witnesses can give their personal experience of the working conditions for men and women in research. How can we future-proof third level, and higher and further education? I have not heard the answer for that or we have not heard solutions and I would be grateful to hear the opinions of the witnesses.