Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. We have the expertise of an assistant secretary, a chief inspector and a CEO-designate of the State Examinations Commission. I believe Ms Feeney worked in the Department's calculated grades executive office.

We are here today to discuss the calculated grades process and the measures that are in place to review it, the indemnification of the students and the preparations for the 2021 leaving certificate. I understand that this year was very challenging. I pay tribute to what has been delivered for students. I know that has been done with help of principals and teachers. Students and teachers have worked together. I appreciate that the organisations engaged with stakeholder groups in developing this system.

As someone who comes from a project management background, I am concerned about how this system contained errors to such an extent that over 6,100 students were affected by coding errors. Polymetrika found that Irish, English and maths were being used with the two worst subjects, instead of the two best subjects. When the Department went through the system at a later stage - maybe this should have been done earlier - it found that civic, social and political education had been left out. Finally, the educational testing system reviewed it and found another two errors. If students had not sat those three subjects and instead took the next best subject, instead of an average, that was also an issue.

I am really shocked here. From from a pure project management perspective, I wonder how on earth was it not tested. Was €75,000 the amount that was spent? Does the Department think that was sufficient for 60,000 students? It appears quite low to me. What other costs were there after that? What section of the Department had oversight and governance of the systems here? Of the 485 students who were offered a place through CAO, how many of them have taken up those offers? I will stop there and follow up with questions afterwards.