Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I am glad to hear he will meet the teachers, have a word with them and find out what their feelings are. There needs to be some form of oversight of this industry. The Bill going through the Houses will help us in this regard, but we must stop this from happening in the future. This is not the first time this has happened. In recent years, we have had several cases of colleges closing down at short notice. I am sure reputational damage must be done to our image in other countries because these cases involve overseas students. It is incumbent on us all to sort this out and prevent it from happening again. Help is needed for the teachers, whether by way of social protection or some form of compensation to tie them over the Christmas period. The Minister said there is a fund, but these issues need to be addressed over the Christmas period. Everyone knows that this is one of the worst times of the year to be caught in a situation such as this. It is a horrible thing to happen to anyone no matter when it happens, but particularly at this time of year when there are huge expectations on people who have families, friends and children to deal with.

See this speech in context