Mr. Paul Byrne:

In terms of teachers required for oral exams, schools greatly benefit from teachers being involved with the State Examination Commission, SEC. We make every effort to facilitate that happening. Let us say I have two or three substitute teachers who do not have Irish, but they are the only substitutes available, plus the oral Irish examination coincides with teachers going out in another subject area. In that instance one needs substitute teachers to cover instances of illness and one also needs to have a substitute teacher for each of the subject areas where teachers wants to go out. Let us say three teachers want to assist or supervise the oral Irish examination. In that case one must adopt a rotational system, which means each teacher goes out one year at a time. The problem for the SEC is that not all schools agree to release teachers to assist with oral examinations. If every school released one teacher, for example, it would mean schools could provide cover with substitute teachers and the system would be more fair. Also, the SEC could choose from a greater pool of examiners. I am not sure that I have answered the question that has been asked.