Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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70. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action he is taking to ensure that the 2014 Leaving Certificate Maths papers are error free; if he will guarantee students that they will only be examined on material that is genuinely solvable; that they will only be examined on material that is on the mathematics course; that the State Examination Commission will only examine students on the syllabus / curriculum material that has been issued by the National Council Curriculum Assessment; that the time outline on the paper be specific; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42839/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has operational responsibility for the operation of the certificate examinations.

One of the key objectives of the SEC is to provide an examinations system of the highest possible quality. The aspiration of any examining body, including the SEC, is to preside over a system that is completely error free. However, it is recognised, across the examination sector, that this will always be an aspiration rather than a completely achievable goal. In the 2013 State certificate examinations, a number of mathematics examination papers contained undetected errors which had not come to light before the examination and which had the potential to impact on candidate answering. The SEC has accepted that level of error in the 2013 examination papers was unacceptably high and has apologised to the candidates affected. Specific measures were implemented in the marking process by the SEC so that candidates were not disadvantaged as a result of these errors.

In addition to its current quality assurance measures, the SEC will, in future, take the following additional steps to minimise the risk of error. It will: - adopt a more formalised approach to strategic work-force planning; review the personnel structures and protocols for paper preparation in each subject; analyse all post print errors with a view to identifying patterns and underlying causes.

Regarding the request that the time allocation on the paper be specific, I am advised by the SEC that the time allocation for the examination is printed on the front of the examination paper and also on the published timetable for the certificate examinations and does not change annually. Each Leaving Certificate Mathematics paper is of two and a half hours' duration and there are no plans to change this. All examinations are designed so as to be readily answerable by candidates in the allotted time.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether the boxed answer paper provided in the Leaving Certificate Maths paper has inadequate room for solutions and calculations; if this could be easily resolved by replacing the blank pages at the back of the answer paper with boxed pages; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the 5 millimetre paper is impossible to write on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42840/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations including organising the holding of examinations, determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations and making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examination.

In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if it is the case that the 2013 Leaving Certificate Maths papers were not ready until May 2013 instead of January as is normal, thereby leaving insufficient time for proper editing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42841/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations including organising the holding of examinations, determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations and making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examination.

In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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73. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will clarify the specific errors that occurred on the 2013 mathematics papers in the pilot schools; if these included a calculus question using a formula that was no longer on the course; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42842/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations including organising the holding of examinations, determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations and making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examination.

In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.