Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister will understand that the funding per student is down 37% on what it was in 2008. Most early career academics and researchers now go from one precarious contract to another. Some 16% of researchers in the technological sector are on permanent contracts but only 5% of researchers in universities are on full-time contracts. It is important to remember that many of these researchers had to complete year upon year of study, many as PhD researchers, where they are paid less than the minimum wage in the form of a stipend and have no workers' rights. The researchers are often in their 30s and 40s and unable to get a mortgage due to the precarity of their work. The precarious nature of their work has forced them to put many life decisions on hold. I speak to academics with permanent contracts and to those without and they all say the same thing. Damage has been done to the profession and this needs to be treated as a matter of urgency.

See this speech in context