Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I will confirm the position on Report Stage, if necessary. I seem to recall from a briefing I received that there is a small diminishing category of persons who were admitted into teaching and have contracts of employment but who would no longer qualify for such contracts today. However, they are still in good standing. Therefore, it is to allow me to provide what would be described in another world as a grandfather clause to allow the established tenure of the persons concerned to continue so as to not put their existing contracts of employment at risk. This is a normal transitional clause when moving from one set of standards to another.