Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

I would say they have all moved on now. One of the issues I had back then, as did many of the staff, was that we were all on short-term contracts. It was very much dependent of EU funding. It was a very stressful and precarious position for anyone to be in. I had hoped that would have all changed. Apparently, it has not and there are still a significant number of staff who are on short-term contracts or temporary contracts associated with certain funding streams. I think it is a false economy, particularly when the nature of the work the Marine Institute has been tasked with has changed over the years and its importance has grown. The Marine Institute is doing permanent work in certain sectors but this is not being recognised through what is still precarious funding. Apparently, 11 staff members had their positions terminated this year because the service-level agreement could not be renewed in time. A few months later, many of them were re-employed. That is no way to treat staff and it is also not good for the research and services provided by the Marine Institute. Is the Minister of State looking at this area? There is an important gap that needs to be filled.