Dr. Fiona McCaffrey:

For initial teacher training or core undergraduate training, the only organisation we are currently formally working with is Mary Immaculate College on the Thurles campus. I believe the principal of that school, Dr. Finn Ó Murchú, has had contact with the committee about the work we have done with them in Thurles. I cannot speak for any other organisations. Dr. Ó Murchú contacted us and we developed a plan with him which we have been running for three or four years. I wish to pick up on what my colleague said about the enhanced training programme for teachers. This is not core training; it is CPD for teachers who have completed teacher training. In Northern Ireland, we run an enhanced programme for teachers. It is about increasing access and teachers being readily able to access training when they need it. We run a programme, I think it is in the region of 10,000 additional teacher training places online. We have been running that programme now for possibly two years and certainly for 18 months. That has proven to be successful. We are open to all of that work in the Republic of Ireland as well.