Ms Andrea Feeney:

It is a complex issue. If it was a straightforward issue, we would have resolved it by now. I have mentioned the fact that contradictory recommendations were made. We recognise how difficult it would be to withdraw the accommodations that are there, but we do have a responsibility to ensure public trust and confidence in the system of examinations and to ensure the examinations are fair for all students, not just students with special educational needs, although their needs are extremely important to us, in order that we can say in the future that the examinations continue to be fair. We need an opportunity to look at the cumulative impact of additional time on top of the accommodations that are already there.

I respect the Cathaoirleach's view. There has been no inaction in the State Examinations Commission in relation to reasonable accommodations. We have seen very significant changes to the scheme in the last number of years, including the introduction of a deferred leaving certificate for students experiencing crisis at examination time, greater use of assistive technology within the scheme-----