Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Is Deputy Nolan on the line? She is not. It is down to me in that case. I again welcome the representatives of the TUs before the committee. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan spoke at the outset of the meeting about the transformative effect of TUs on third level education.

I agree with him on that. Having the witnesses appear before the committee twice in recent months highlights the importance of what the TUs are doing.

A question was asked about reform of the leaving certificate. In the coming weeks, the committee will begin a body of work on reform of the leaving certificate. This comes at a time of considerable debate on the leaving certificate of 2021 and 2020 as a result of the Covid pandemic. The leaving certificate has served us well, but we now have a different cohort of students. I believe the leaving certificate is outdated, beyond its sell-by date and needs reform. Dr. Ryan may have been offline when Professor Cunnane called on him to come in on the matter. I would be interested to hear Dr. Ryan's views on reform of the leaving certificate. In particular, I believe we need to look at ongoing assessment.