Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not nonsense for me to come into the House and outline the process. I was just telling the truth as it is. The Deputy might not like it but that is the process. It would be wrong for any Minister to be able to interfere with a process that is meant to be independent. This is a State examination, a leaving certificate qualification and we cannot ever be accused of giving an unfair advantage to any candidate. The process must be independent. Some Deputies, including myself and Deputy Fleming, might wish sometimes that it was not independent and that we could have some influence over the process but that would be completely wrong. The process has to be independent, must be able to stand up to scrutiny and ensure that the correct decisions are made.

The Deputy's point about applicants not being informed of their right to appeal decisions to the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children is valid. It is often assumed that people know of that right and perhaps it should be spelled out clearly to them. I will certainly ensure that is addressed. I also accept the Deputy's point regarding timelines. Indeed, some people are still awaiting a final decision. The timelines are a bit tight and we can certainly look at that before next year. I have no problem working on that but neither myself nor the Minister has any intention of changing an independent process so that we can have influence over it. That would be wrong and would not be fair.

The Deputy also spoke about the fact that the student in question had supports at junior certificate level. I wish to clarify that a more rigorous assessment process applies to the leaving certificate as it seeks to recognise the high stakes nature of this examination. It is the final State examination that is used, in most cases, to determine whether students can progress to further education, higher education or into a career. At junior certificate level the schools themselves make the decisions and are provided with guidelines by the SEC to help them to determine eligibility. In general the SEC provides the accommodations as determined by the school. Accommodations approved for a junior certificate student will not automatically be granted at leaving certificate and this is clearly outlined to schools, candidates and their parents in the RACE documentation. That said, I accept that very often people do not see the finer details in such documentation, which can cause difficulties.

I stress again that there is a different system in place for the leaving certificate and it is unfair of Deputy Fleming to try to muddy the waters. The arrangements for reaching decisions are different at leaving certificate level and the process must be independent. I cannot stress the latter point enough. I accept that it can cause great stress and difficulty but the scheme must be applied properly. The SEC cannot give an unfair advantage to one student over another. The idea of these supports is to ensure that students are in a position to reach their potential attainment levels and nothing impedes that but they cannot be given an unfair advantage. That requires a judgment call and I am sure everyone would have a different opinion on such judgments but that is what the experts are there for - to judge who is entitled to supports. I hope that in every case those who are entitled to support receive it.

All of that being said, it appears, based on the figures quoted by the Deputy, that the percentages have changed a lot so I will research that data further.

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