Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

In the Minister's reply, there was much reference to transferable skills. It seems to me that he and the Department are at pains to avoid referring to work as work. Instead, it is about developing transferable skills. Although there are differences, there are also parallels with the situation for student nurses. In this case, the universities are reliant on free labour from PhD researchers. Without this work, universities would not be able to continue to function. The people in question are PhD researchers who are obliged to teach classes without payment. Does the Minister accept that is work? Does he accept it is essential work in terms of keeping colleges open and training a new generation, yet the PhD researchers are expected to do it for free? Another problem is that we are not told how much unpaid work is being done. NUI Galway has refused freedom of information requests on the basis that it does not even know how many unpaid hours of teaching are taking place.

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