Further and Higher Education
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire

They are very concerned because the background is that the Postgraduate Workers' Organisation and students' unions fought for stipend increases. They got them up to €25,000. It is still not enough and is much less than their European counterparts. They are also looking for status as workers. They fear that their conditions may be impacted by moving over to universities because if a block grant is going from Research Ireland to universities, potentially the university could say it will have more postgraduate students on stipends of less than €25,000. The universities will not want to be taking them on as workers, which is what the postgraduate students want. The postgraduate student will have less autonomy because, currently, the grant is given to them. Now, it will be given to the Department or the supervisor rather than to the individual. People's choice about the things they propose to research will be reduced and put into the hands of the colleges and universities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23