USI president: Irish lecturers earning 'many multiples' of UK counterparts
Outgoing President of the Union of Students in Ireland Gary Redmond is today calling on the Education Minister to force high-earning academic staff to take a pay cut.
Last year, Minister Ruairi Quinn wrote to college governing authorities requesting that all those earning more than €200,000 accept a pay cut.
However, to date just two university presidents have responded - NUI Galway's Jim Browne and TCD provost Paddy Prendergast.
"There's no doubt we need to pay salaries that are attractive internationally and we need to be able to compete internationally to attract talented international calibre to come and lecture at our universities and colleges," said Redmond.
"But we do not need to be able to pay multiples of what you would earn in the UK, and that's the situation that we have in our universities.
"A lecturer starting in Ireland would earn many multiples of what a lecturer starting in the UK would."
