Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I believe we would all agree, if we can agree on anything after that debate, that during the term of the previous Government almost no post offices were closed. All the roaring and shouting that is going on now about the current Government is not impressive.

We would all agree that the third level sector is vital to our future and that third level colleges and universities are the platform on which we hope to produce graduates who will not only get good jobs and join different professions but who will start their own companies and provide for entrepreneurships.

I am very disappointed and angry at the way this Government has treated staffing issues in the third level sector since it came into office. The economy is in recovery mode but we know that during the period of the crash, little or no recruitment was made in the universities or colleges or generally in the public sector but that period is behind us. I am concerned about the terms and conditions under which younger and newer staff are currently being recruited.

We have had two reports by senior counsel, one by Peter Ward some time ago dealing with the issues and specifically focusing on issues around the entire education sector regarding staff getting quality contracts for the very important jobs they do. The other report, the Cush report, which was delivered to this Government some time ago, basically examined the conditions of teaching staff in colleges and universities and how their contracts and terms and conditions would be improved. Essentially, we find the quality of jobs has been both stripped out and stripped down in a number of the universities, including in the one closest to us in the Dáil, Trinity College, over a period of time, whereby increasingly more staff are now on short-term contracts or contracts which are subject to renewal at frequent intervals. The consequence of that for staff, who are vital for providing services to students, researchers and their institutions, is that their position of employment is extremely precarious, and if it were to continue that way, the staff will not be in a position to acquire a mortgage because they simply will not have contracts of a quality which would allow them to have financial security and commit to a long-term investment such as the purchase of a family home.

The Government has very significant resources at its disposal. What will it do to improve the terms and conditions of staff at third level and, in particular, to move away from short-term contracts and return to the principle of people getting permanent, contracted employment in which they can commit to the institution, give good service and also be able to enter into financial commitments? What about this model of short-termism which is also being employed for ancillary staff such as people who work in the libraries and in administration? It is a really insidious form of permanently reducing people's status and conditions.

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