I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

I am waiting for the microphone to be turned on.

We hear you anyway; do not worry.

I have just come from a protest by hundreds of postgraduate researchers, organised by the Postgraduate Workers Organisation. The slogans at the protest, which was very angry, were “Research is work”, “Researchers are workers” and “We demand a living wage”. It is shocking that 7,000 to 10,000 PhD researchers in this country, who do innovative and often ground-breaking research and teach in our universities, and without whom our further education and university systems would grind to a halt, are paid less than the minimum wage. I am referring to the average stipends available to them. They are not treated as workers and do not get PRSI contribution credits. The non-EEA postgraduates are treated in the most despicable fashion. Many of them are landed with fees. The researchers want to know whether the Government will accede to their demands that they be treated as workers, that they be given a living wage and that all researchers be treated properly.

I have had a long-standing commitment to research and have overseen very significant investment in a range of research programmes over the last two decades. Career pathways for young people in research are important. There is a wide spectrum of postgraduates, from MA students to those qualifying to become teachers, so one cannot just have one simplistic policy applying to all. At PhD level, particularly within certain science-related programmes, there is very substantial research work under way. It is an issue that the Minister will address.