Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and the delegation. I wholeheartedly welcome the concept of reform of the junior certificate. I did one of the final intermediate certificates back in the day. I failed honours Irish, of which I am not proud, but I then obtained an honours degree in it. It is not a great benchmark and thankfully it did not stop me in my tracks. It shows the value of the junior certificate can be overegged.

The principle is very welcome and I do not have a difficulty with how it will be corrected, as it happens at third level where the stakes are a lot higher. Teachers at third level do not have an issue with subjectivity. Notwithstanding this, and if teachers still have difficulty, has the option of peer correcting been explored whereby a teacher from one town can correct the work of a teacher in another town? It would be a bit like what is done with the pre-leaving certificate and pre-junior certificate. This might be an option to be explored with the unions.