Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

I welcome our witnesses. We had representatives from the Department at a previous meeting and the NCCA as well. I made the point that, as a parent and having been a teacher of leaving certificate students, I have had insight from both sides of this, in that I have seen the stress on students and also how teachers are being made to deal with the demands of the leaving certificate as well. I want to make a general point before I pose a couple of questions. I think it was Mr. Ó Caoimh who mentioned the high stakes of the leaving certificate. To me, the core of the problem is that everything depends on the leaving certificate. It is not just the nature of the leaving certificate; it is the fact that so much is dependent on it. The whole issue of access to third level should be reexamined. Why should everything depend on the leaving certificate? None of that is being discussed. Everybody saw the stress that was on the leaving certificate students during Covid but it has not opened up a huge discussion as to what the alternatives are.

My first question is for Mr. Ó Caoimh. He mentioned consultation. What consultation was there with second level students about the reform of the leaving certificate?