Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 November 2023
674. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his views on the potential for a sectoral employment order for researchers in third level institutions as a means of addressing precarious work conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52510/23]
View answerThe issue of academic career precarity is and will remain an important element of the work of my department. However, the potential submission of a Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) in respect of research staff is not a matter for my Department.
SEOs were provided for as part of a revised legislative framework under the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015. Under the Act, a trade union or employers’ organisation can request the Labour Court to undertake an examination of the terms and conditions relating to the remuneration and any sick pay scheme or pension scheme of a particular group of workers in a particular sector of the economy.
Having considered such a request, the Labour Court can make a recommendation, or refuse to make a recommendation, to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to make a sectoral employment order. Such an order may set out minimum pay rates as well as pension and sick pay schemes for an economic sector.
