Ms Colette Godkin:

To return to Deputy Thomas Byrne's question about the teacher protection fund, in our original submission Unite did ask for such a fund to be put in place. The question of how many schools had closed was raised. As far as I know, 24 schools have closed in the past five years. Even during the week in which this legislation was before the Seanad, another school closed. Although we hope no more schools will ever close, the existence of the learner protection fund acknowledges that possibility and we therefore think a fund should be in place to protect teachers and other staff in such an event.