Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 9, line 31, to delete "student" and substitute "students’ ".

I welcome the Minister. Sinn Féin has proposed several amendments that change the phrase "student" union" to "students’" union and include the apostrophe. It is the appropriate term. While these amendments are largely technical, it can be interpreted somewhat more meaningfully to those who hold students' union membership.

The Bill is drafted using the term "student union". There is not one student union anywhere in the islands but there is a plethora of students' unions. Similarly, there is not a teacher union, nurse union or worker union, but there are of course teachers' unions, nurses' unions and workers' unions. They are phrased in a possessive syntax because unions are owned by, ran by and directed by students.