Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 July 2026
889. 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 €30,000 stipend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51353/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraNearly 11,000 students are enrolled annually in PhD programmes across Ireland. Of these, approximately 4,000 are privately funded, either by their employer or by themselves. The remainder receive public funding from a host of sources including this Department and the research funding agencies of other Government Departments. A small number are funded through the Horizon Europe Marie Curie-Sklodowska Actions programme under Horizon Europe, the EU’s umbrella research and innovation funding programme.
Based on the approximately 7,000 PhD students in receipt of public support, a €30,000 stipend would involve a budgetary requirement of €210 million per annum.
In Budget 2025, additional funding was announced for Research Ireland in order to increase the stipend to €25,000 per annum for the over 3,000 PhD students that its competitive programmes support. This in turn built on previously announced increases and equates to a cumulative increase of over 31% over a two-year period. This increase has come into effect as of 1 January 2025.
