2026-04-23

255. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to restore funding for the postgraduate and graduate scholarship scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29176/26]

We talked earlier on about big announcements without people knowing they were coming. I met earlier with representatives of the Postgraduate Workers' Organisation and Aontas na Mac Léinn Éireann, AMLÉ, the national students' union, about the surprise announcement from Research Ireland that it is pulling out of graduate and postgraduate schemes for PhD and postdoctorate funding. People will now be applying directly to colleges and universities. They are extremely worried that this has come out of nowhere and about what it may mean for the stipend, for the autonomy and independence of postgraduate students and post-doctorate researchers, along with many other concerns. Will the Minister say something to reassure them?

I am familiar with the situation. Research Ireland is changing some of the schemes it operates. It is consolidating some schemes. There were a number of different schemes within it, partly arising from the merger of the Irish Research Council to Research Ireland, and there was some duplication of schemes and programmes within that. There has been a consolidation. A new strategy has been adopted by Research Ireland, which is one I applaud and share the ambition of. Research Ireland has been funded to a level that has never been seen before. It has been one of the focuses of my time in this role that I have invested significant research funding, including in Research Ireland, which should be working its way through to the individual researchers. I would give an assurance to those researchers that while there may be a change in title of some of the schemes and a movement from one scheme to another, the overall contents of those programmes are being continued. The funding is also being continued. Those researchers should not have to fear the changes they are hearing about.

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.

I would be very concerned if I was to learn, and I invite the Deputy to share details with me if it is happening, of researchers being told they cannot research certain areas and are being directed toward particular areas of research, because academic freedom is a key part of my strategy, the Department's strategy and Research Ireland's strategy. It is also the case that I have promoted education as a public good and the pursuit of curiosity and knowledge as one of the four pillars of my Department's strategy. It is fundamental to my approach that researchers should not be told that a particular area is off limits or is not in vogue. In fact, there should be that full academic freedom. There are a number of schemes in place that should be supporting that. I invite Deputy Boyd Barrett to share those details with me if he wishes. The Deputy mentioned AMLÉ. I met AMLÉ yesterday. I hosted a cost of college event where we met a number of students, learners, apprentices, researchers and people in the system across a range of institutions. It was a very helpful event which will inform my deliberations on the budget later this year. It is on my list to arrange, in the next couple of weeks, a dedicated sit-down meeting with the Irish Federation of University Teachers, IFUT, which represents researchers. I met with IFUT before but I am working towards a one-to-one meeting to hear what the organisation has to say on the issue. I invite Deputy Boyd Barrett to share with me some of the details if there are issues of that kind.

I understand from talking to AMLÉ and the postgraduate workers that IFUT is also concerned about this. I have not talked directly to it since this information came out but clarifications and reassurances need to be given that there will be no question that, for example, the stipends of €25,000 that have been achieved when researchers applied to Research Ireland will be undermined when they go to the colleges and the universities. Another concern that was expressed is that because there is more money available from the corporate sector, industry and so on for STEM subjects, the arts could get squeezed and that there will be a pressure because the sector does not want so many people doing postgraduate courses in arts and humanities and wants more of them in areas where the universities can get more money from the corporate sector and industry. There are serious concerns that need to be addressed and assurances need to be given. One would need to explain why this is happening and what exact benefit there is in this change for research, postgraduate researchers and their staff, incomes, career paths and so on.

The Deputy obviously did not hear me on David McCullagh's show two weeks ago when I extolled the virtues of an artistic education, an arts degree and the humanities more widely.

I am glad to hear it.

It is something I have been saying for ten years. The Deputy and I have joined in common cause on that in this House before. A point I have made at a number of events I attended, including today, for example, with companies in the technology and digital space, is that we need to produce a wide range of graduates across all disciplines. That is even more the case in the age of AI and digital because the problem-solving, collaborative, creative mindset enables and creates those transversal skills that can be applied across a range of jobs and areas of industry in the future. The job for life has long been a thing of the past but the skill set for life is something that is continuing to change and evolve. It is those creative industries that can very helpfully augment that talent pool in a portable, transferable way. Ironically, and perhaps unexpectedly, they are the skills that employers are seeking out more and more, rather than deep technical qualifications that are, of course, in great demand, but workers need to be able to translate learning across different sectors and respond to change as it comes at them.