Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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81. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to allocate the necessary funds in budget 2024 to meet the demands of an organisation (details supplied) for a living wage for all PhD researchers, regardless of funding source; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15751/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I’d like to thank the Deputy for raising this important issue.

The quality of our researchers is fundamental to the quality of our research system and its collaboration with partners in industry and policymakers, both in Ireland and abroad.

Under Pillar 4 of our national research and innovation strategy, Impact 2030, we have committed to ensuring that researchers have the right skills development and career opportunities so that they can make their maximum contribution, whether in academia, industry, the public sector or elsewhere.

As part of this commitment, I announced a national review of State supports for PhD researchers. I was pleased to appoint Dr Andrea Johnson and David Cagney as Co-Chairs for the review.

I met with the Co-Chairs at the end of February where they provided an update on progress of the review.

This independent review is currently underway. The two Co-Chairs are approaching completion of a very comprehensive round of stakeholder consultations and written submissions. This includes a workshop with researcher representative organisations, including the organisation you are referring to. The review is considering a range of critical issues such as stipend levels and the consistency of supports across the system.

The Co-Chairs will report to me shortly and the report will be presented to Government in due course. Any decision I make on measures to support PhD researchers will be informed by the outcome of this review.