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

The previous Committee of Public Accounts looked at the third-level sector and in fact it dominated the latter part of that committee's work.

Some very serious issues were raised. We then dealt with the precarious employment of people in that sector, which was a complaint. It tended not to be people on the old contracts, which suggests it is newer lecturers, increasingly, with part-time and more precarious contracts. I am pleased to see that is the case.

Mr. McKeon did not get to read out the section of the statement that states the unit has gone from 12 to 18 staff. He also stated that it can be very time consuming and complex for social insurance purposes. There are 18 staff and more than 1,000 people over 300 different employers. What, in an ideal world, is the scope the unit needs to grow to?