Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

43. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the Action Plan for Education will address the increasing use of precarious contracts and poor work conditions and pay in the third level institutions for lecturers and other workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1915/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In September, I launched the first ever Action Plan for Education aimed at making the Irish education and training service the best in Europe by 2026. This plan, which incorporates my Department's Strategy Statement as well as the Action Plan of Education outlines over one hundred actions to be implemented across the period 2016-2019.

It provides the strategic framework for planning and reporting across the Department and its agencies over the next three years and timeframes for each action are included.

In May 2016 I also welcomed the report of the Chairperson of the Expert Group on Fixed-Term and Part-Time Employment in Lecturing in Third Level Education in Ireland. The recommendations contained in the report will assist in addressing concerns raised about precarious employment by Union representatives. 

In July my Department issued circular letters to employers in the third-level sector, setting out the detailed arrangements and procedures for implementation of the recommendations to academic staff who are covered by the Lansdowne Road Agreement.