Ms Elaine Sheridan:

Examiners are appointed on the basis of the information they provide on their application forms. Generally, a degree or qualification in the specific subject and a qualification in education are the minimum requirements, but on top of that we also look at whether they have relevant experience of teaching the subject or a related discipline or teaching that subject in another jurisdiction. We publish our criteria for the appointment of examiners on our website. It is transparent and open. All of those details are set out on the website.

It depends on the nature of the subject. If a new specification or subject is introduced at leaving certificate level or in the junior cycle, we may not have a specific qualification in that subject but we look at and review the application in the context of what other relevant information is provided. The key issue, as Ms Feeney mentioned earlier, is that we were prioritising the leaving certificate examinations this year. They are the appointments we make first. We take all our application forms and fill our teams at leaving certificate level first. We then work to fill our junior cycle teams and assign our most experienced examiners to mark the leaving certificate examinations.