Third-level salaries defended

Academics have today defended salary levels in the third-level sector after an investigation revealed high wages for some university staff.

The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), which represents two-thirds of third-level academic staff, said the majority of lecturers are not high earners.

The comments come following the results of a Freedom of Information investigation by the Sunday Times, which showed that over 1,000 third-level staff are paid over €100,000 a year. The investigation follows a similar inquiry by The Irish Times in November 2009 which revealed that over 60 staff in the education sector earn more than €150,000 per annum.

General secretary of the federation Mike Jennings said very few lecturers were earning six-figure salaries.

"I think you need to put into perspective that for every seven people who are on pay scales of €100,000 or more there's ninety-three who aren't," said Mr Jennings on RTÉ radio. He added that those who become academics face a number of years of working without a salary before they are even eligible to apply for jobs as as university lecturers and usually start their careers on low pay scales.

"The idea that rates of pay are plucked out of the air is nonsensical, they're actually very well researched and rates of pay have been falling over the last number of years while student numbers are increasing," he said.

Mr Jennings stated that many of those earning high salaries in the third-level sectors were employed in areas such as administration and said many lecturers were victims of their "mindless bureaucracy".

The union called for an investigation into those earning high salaries to establish whether their wages were justified.

"The last number of years we've seen a sidelining of teaching and now we're hoping to get back to what universities should do, which is to teach undergraduates," he said.

Dr Tom O'Connor, lecturer in economics and public policy at Cork Institute of Technology also defended general pay levels among academics. He said the salary figures reported in the media showed "gross inequality between the people who are at the top of the pay scales and those who are at the bottom."

He stressed that most working in third-level sector were earning "comparatively competitive rates of pay".