Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I also thank him for withdrawing it last week when I was unable to take it because I wanted to give it seriousness.

I am pleased that Rebecca Carter got the course she wanted, which is great. However, the Deputy is right that we do not want young people having to go to court to get access to college courses. Since the ruling was made, as the Deputy knows, the State Examinations Commission has met. It arranged for the correction of Ms Carter's paper. It also has indicated to its executive that it wants an urgent review of the timelines involved. It is clearly taking responsibility in this. I have convened for this week a meeting of State Examinations Commission and the higher education institutions to find out how we can resolve the issue.

As a backdrop to this - I will deal with some of the points the Deputy made - one of the key changes made this year, as the Deputy probably knows, is that UCD issued a decision that students who, after 30 September, got upgrades in their results could not participate in this year's course.

That was a significant change. However, as the Deputy rightly said, the case has also revealed long time lags in the appeals process and, while the State Examinations Commission is independent, we will need to look at them. Some of them start from the process the commission undertakes after 15 August when it issues all scripts back to schools for examination and gives until 5 September for a decision to be made as to whether a case will be appealed. It then takes from 5 September to 10 October to retrieve the scripts, dispatch them to the examiners and have the examination carried out. The commission also applies more due diligence or quality assurance to the rechecking than the initial process, with a higher level of re-sampling of scripts corrected. Clearly, while it is right that the commission has a robust system in place, we have to shorten the timescale.

Another factor at play is that, increasingly, colleges are starting their terms much earlier than they used to. There was a time when they did not start so early and the schedule was in line. Therefore, UCD makes a reasonable point that a student starting six weeks into a course is going to miss something. We need to resolve this issue. I have to recognise the independence of both the colleges in determining their admission policies and the State Examinations Commission, given that this independence is something the public rightly values. Notwithstanding that, we can do a lot better in shortening the timescale.

On the turnover of results, the Deputy is correct. The level of 9,800 this year is not low and is typical, with 9,500 being the figure for last year and approximately 9,000 for other years. Some 14.5%, or approximately 1,400, are upgraded. The figure for those who receive offers is significant, with over 400 receiving offers as a result of an upgrade. The vast majority take up the offers in the same year, but some opt for deferral to the following year, although this option was not available in UCD as there had been a change. We can do much better in that regard. I will be working with the two bodies concerned to make sure we resolve this issue.

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