Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Farrell. I accept the point the Minister is making, and also his broader point. I am just seeking to understand and clarify that he is saying to us that where the State is funding HEIs there is a clear policy around ensuring progression among postdoctoral students, for instance, can take place. The terms and conditions of postdoctoral students are in the main going to be the subject of the first and second reports. We must ensure there is an understanding by presidents across the system that that State money cannot be used to buttress out or create bigger silos for presidents and a greater number of whole-time equivalents for presidents to buttress their own presidential offices, because we have seen evidence of that in the system. It is absolutely and utterly destroying morale. When universities enter a deficit situation, the people who are most affected are the ones we are trying to advocate for here. They look upwards and they do not see any kind of clawing back of funding around the upper echelons of HEIs. If I am interpreting the Minister correctly, he is very wise to that and is exercising his ministerial prerogative, for want of a better expression, to ensure the money is used widely and we are not creating larger fiefdoms among the upper echelons within the HEIs.