Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----and, indeed, the Postgraduate Workers Organisation’s report shows that there are different models. I am quoting the recommendation that they should be treated as professionals, they should be seen as professionals and they should be treated accordingly. Currently, they rightly feel in many cases they are brutally underpaid, they are really struggling to sustain themselves in the work they do and the career they would like to pursue, and indeed, in many cases, they are being exploited and are being taken advantage of. Some of them were very clear about this. As the Minister will know, quite a few of these people are from other countries and have come here to do research, and many of them are just saying they do not know why they came here, because it is impossible. It seems to me that that is not a good space for us to be in. We want to make this an attractive place for people to do research. We have a long way to go in order to get to that situation. As of now, we do not even have a guaranteed living wage or proper employment conditions for people in research. If you work for four or five years on this and if you are not treated as an employee, it will have consequences on pension entitlements, etc., later in life.

The preferred option of the Postgraduate Workers Organisation, having looked at all the models and principles that were set out in Salzburg, etc., is to be treated as an employee. That is the option the Minister should go for. It seems reasonable that a research body should at least set out to guarantee decent conditions of employment, income, etc., for our researchers. Of course, as Deputy Sherlock said, we should maintain the independence institutions, but that does not mean we cannot have a decent floor in terms of conditions of employment.

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