Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
933. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the estimated full-year cost of ensuring all postgraduate research students receive a full-year €28,000 stipend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24073/23]
View answerI would like to specify to the Deputy that the figures provided below should be considered indicative only.
There are approximately 10,000 PhD enrolments at present in Ireland. Approximately 6,000 of these are in receipt of a stipend – either from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) or the Irish Research Council (IRC), other public funders such as Teagasc or the Health Research Board (HRB), or from the higher education institutions themselves.
SFI and and the IRC fund circa 3,000 PhD students and the current stipend is €19,000 annually. Other public funders fund circa 1,000 PhD students and the current stipend is in the region of €18,500 annually.
If a €28,000 stipend were to be awarded to these 4,000 stipend recipients, the additional annual budgetary requirement would be €36,500,000 per annum.
Given that the current annual cost is estimated at €75,500,000, the hypothetical total full year annual cost for these students would be €112,000,000.
Higher education institutions fund circa 2,000 PhD students directly. Stipends from these institutions vary significantly both between and within institutions. My Department is conducting a review of supports for PhD researchers which will provide additional information on these stipend levels. For this reason, an indicative adjustment cost is not provided now.
