Rose Conway-Walsh: Challenges of Precarious Work in Higher Education

Minister, have you engaged with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the employment control framework and the increase of precarious work in a higher education? I know you recently called for a halt to precarious part-time employment in higher education, but this implies that the blame lies with the colleges. In the past, most of my questions to you have been dismissed on the grounds that employment is an issue for the institutions themselves, not your department. However, the institutions have no option but to hire staff under casual or temporary contracts in order to meet the students to abandon the restrictions on them. I hope I would never dismiss your questions. And yes, I have been engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The contractual arrangements of those working in the higher education sector is a very important issue that I have raised myself with the Higher Education Authority. And also with our research funders, because I think they have a role to play, be it the Irish Research Council or Science Foundation Ireland. And I have discussed it with staff representatives and with other bodies within the sector. There are many different factors giving rise to non-permanent staffing arrangements, which I do understand are a feature of many higher education research systems. And I have sought to ensure that necessary information is examined to see how the issue can best be addressed and that Ireland is best in class here and certainly not an outlier in relation to other education systems. The HEA is undertaking an analysis to establish the scale of precarious employment in higher education over time, the reasons behind it and any impact it is having on the sector as well as making necessary recommendations. Detailed engagement between the HEA and the employers in the sector will be critical in assessing the situation and addressing underlying issues, specifically in relation to work undertaken by PhD students. As advised in previous replies to parliamentary questions, my department has engaged with the HEA research funders, the IUA, THEA and other representatives and relevant information has been compiled and examined. We have established a subgroup of the National Advisory Forum for Ireland's framework for doctoral education. This is now considering the matters further, including at a very recent meeting in the last few days, including existing practices and examples of national and international best practice. In parallel and directly to the question, my department is engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the HEA to finalise a new higher education staffing agreement. This will update the current employment control framework and it will give particular consideration to the different categories of staff covered, alignment with new funding streams and contractual commitments in the sector, and the need for staffing decisions taken in higher education to be affordable and sustainable both from a higher education perspective and of course from the point of view of the Exchequer and the wider public service staffing and pension perspective. So my department will continue to interact with the sector, the HEA and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on these work streams to make progress in light of the employment data across the sector. I am glad that something appears to have been done and I know that you will accept that until the issue is addressed, the problem will continue. But under the employment control framework introduced in 2011, universities are prevented from hiring full-time staff over and above the existing numbers in most cases. And one provision in the ECF meant that posts funded by sources other than the Exchequer were only to be filled on a fixed-term basis and this was recommended to be deleted by the CUSH report which was five years ago. And Sinn Féin has no objection to the use of fixed-term contracts where there is a legitimate requirement for their use. However, we do have a concern when fixed-term contracts are being used to fill what should be permanent positions. Staffing embargoes and underfunding means that student-to-academic staff ratios are currently 20.6 to 1. The student-staff ratio at third level in Ireland is the fourth highest in the OECD where the average is 16 to 1. Thank you Deputy. Thank you. Minister. Thank you Deputy Conway Walsh. So three things really. So firstly we are engaging as I said with the Department of Public Expenditure Reform and the HEA in relation to that employment control framework. Of course there needs to be employment controls, we all know that. There isn't any publicly funded agency that can hire without reference to obviously the impact on the public sector pay bail, pensions etc. And the Deputy is not suggesting there should be. But I do accept and I wouldn't be engaging if I didn't believe that we need to see changes there in relation to a new staffing agreement. And that is I suppose the prize that we are trying to obtain for the sector and I believe it is crucial as we go forward. So that is one thing. The second thing and I note the HEA was asked about this at the Public Accounts Committee on the 1st of July just in recent days about the issue of precarious employment and casualisation as well. Following on from that engagement that the HEA had at the PAC, my department will be engaging further with the HEA to request them to undertake an analysis including of data already to hand and to reach definitive conclusions. This is important. There is lots of data. We need definitive conclusions regarding the overall position as well. And thirdly I would just say and reference again in Lasky and Corley with your indulgence. The subgroup of the National Advisory Forum for Ireland's Framework for Doctoral Education. Thank you, you get a chance to come back to the Minister. You are now looking at the PhD students. Deputy Conway Walsh. Sorry. Thank you Minister and I welcome that. But I think this is something that we need to come back to every time that we engage in here because until such time that it is fixed it is not only the impact it has on lectures referred yourself to PhD students who I think really and truly are exploited across the board because of the way the system is. We have to change the system but what I want from you I suppose is a timeline whereby we can really see the impact of the work that's been done now to change this. It's not acceptable in terms of students working in an environment and being taught in an environment where this exploitation is happening but also on an individual level where people cannot get security in terms of family in terms of mortgages in terms of credit and all of those things because of the precarious situation that they are in. It's just not right and it needs to be fixed. Thank you Minister. I very much welcome an ongoing focus on this as I know you'll ensure there is deputy but also so will I and that's why I do want those three work streams that I've outlined to you. The new staffing agreement with Deeper, the work that we've asked the HEA to do in relation to precarious employment, its prevalence and impact on our higher education system and crucially to return to the PhD students. We have engaged with the HEA, we've engaged with IUA, we've engaged with THEA to gather further detail on practices in the sector particularly in relation to how this affects PhD students. This information has now been received and collated as I've said that subgroup of the National Advisory Forum for Ireland's Framework for Doctoral Education has been established to further consider the matters, to look at international best practice around PhD students, to identify any good practice in Ireland that could be more widely deployed across the sector. The group met on the 3rd of June and they also briefly updated the overall National Advisory Forum on the 24th of June. Next steps are now being considered by the group and the department and I'd be happy to keep the deputy informed. Thank you very much.