Mr. Lee Reynolds:

We do not have data on an urban-rural split. We have our experiences of engaging with students, particularly in rural communities, where they tell us they wanted to take it to leaving certificate but their school did not provide it and when they took the option of going to the other school, it did not provide it either. We raised in our submission that there are a number of areas for which we do not have the data and we encourage the committee to ask the Department for that data. We think we know the answer but I do not want to make an accusation without proper data. Everything we have heard anecdotally indicates a problem with gender, with socioeconomic background, most likely with inclusion of LGBT and ethnic minority groups and, we strongly suspect, a rurality problem.