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

I welcome that. We should look at the apprenticeship model because apprentices have worker status and employment contracts, and they get paid more each year as the balance between the learning and the work shifts. I think that is important for us to look at. If there is a model already there that works in terms of respecting PhD researchers, we need to examine that. We need to deal with this situation once and for all. We desperately need these PhD researchers. I am very concerned that they are going to be put off doing the really valuable work they do. I know and the Minister knows from going to colleges about all of the different work that they do. There is a very unsavoury way in which these workers are unappreciated. Their work is not valued, despite the value they add. That is even aside from the cost of living. What are we telling and showing students in these colleges if we can treat researchers like this?

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