Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Or in the 1980s. I am glad the disclosures are being continued. The witnesses have approached the issue on the basis of an extension of the exam time and we will remain on that point for the moment. Ms McKimm said it was a race against the clock. We probed representatives of the Department on that issue. The witnesses said in their opening statement that they were disappointed with the time allocation. The representatives of the Department were very adamant that the time aspect should be maintained and they set out a rationale for that which I want to explore with the witnesses. We were all students at one stage. I remember time pressures not only in the English exam, but also in history, in which one had to answer five essay-style questions for the leaving certificate and one would get to question three and realise one would have to go hell for leather to complete the final two. I could never understand that. The representatives of the Department said the whole point of the exam is to elicit what it can from students in a very constrained period. The intention is not to let a student write flowing piecesad infinitumbut, rather, to test them under constraints. Deputy Ryan raised the issue of the philosophy of the exam. I would like to hear the arguments, perhaps those of Ms Dolan who has not yet had an opportunity to speak, on whether there is merit in the Department saying that it wants to test students under very tight time constraints, which I acknowledge many people feel is unfair.