Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It has not. Where are the studies that show that? The Senator cannot say that, because we have no studies to show that. We had an uptake. Now we have a downtake and now we have a fail-pass take and a pass-fail honours take. We have a pile of takes on it now. Therefore, it cannot be said it has worked brilliantly because it had an uptake. Ask the University of Limerick. It has done a massive study on where it is at. That study shows the uptake may be there, but the downtake in quality and in ability to add, subtract and multiply is very questionable. That is my version of it.

We must wait for at least ten to 15 years and for studies on it to decide on its success. Therefore I do not agree with it. This is a beef of mine, but perhaps as the new chair of the State Examinations Commission, Mr. Burke would look at this. Not everybody will choose to do music, because music needs massive ability to be able to do it at honours level. Students would need to have been studying an instrument from the age of nine. They must also learn the language of music and learn tempo.