Mr. William Beausang:

I am happy to respond to that question. The Deputy can take it as given that these provisions were not included in the Bill lightly. There is a significant reputational issue in safeguarding the interests of students issue that arises. There were arrangements put in place under the previous legislation, which were referred to earlier by Dr. Maguire. They are complex. Whether they would meet the needs of a significant failure or a set of failures in the sector is open to question. They provide for a refund of fees but we are interested in students being able to continue their studies. There have been situations where QQI has had to assist small providers which had to withdraw from programme validation because they were not able to meet the cost of insurance. What I am saying in a roundabout way is that the assessment we have to come - one cannot be definitive about this - is that there is a market failure here and the State in this situation has a responsibility to intervene, particularly in a scenario where the State is taking a much more active role in regulating the sector and the quality of it. It is relevant to Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's question on the moral hazard issue. We will have to see how it plays out. As the INM is a quality standard, one would expect that into the future, if regulation works, there would be fewer failures than there were in the past. I do not have to hand the number of schools that have folded over the last extended period. Dr. Maguire may have the number. A very significant number of schools have closed. Having looked at this closely with QQI, the Department is satisfied that the financial arrangements would deliver in the event of a significant number of programmes ceasing. They have not been tested. I know there are some good practises that the insurance industry representative referred to but I am speaking about a sector that is very important in terms of the reputation of the education system more generally in this country. We are not prepared to take that risk.