Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will talk this evening about the FFY, forgotten fifth years. This is a group of approximately 60,000 young people whose leaving certificate studies have been seriously disrupted by the pandemic and who feel that neither the Minister nor the Government are paying real attention to their concerns. Precisely because these young people feel they are being ignored, not listened to and are unheard, I am going to start by reading some of their words into the record. I am going to start with the words of a young woman named Caoimhe who messaged me. Among other things, she states:

Teaching myself at home has been so hard trying not to get distracted and to stay motivated. It is easier when she was in school as you have separate environments for learning and then home life. Trying to do both in a home environment is very hard, while also trying to stay positive and not get bogged down in the global pandemic affecting everything around us.

My second quote is from Rachel. As well as being a fifth year student, she is working on the front line in this pandemic. She states:

I have and still do work five days a week in a nursing home, a nursing home that battling this pandemic. Wearing full PPE and completing my job in work is draining enough without having to come home at 4 o'clock to try and complete online courses ... Online courses, classes or exercises can't begin to compare with the real thing.

She states that she wants a response from the Department about the situation in which fifth year students find themselves.

As the Minister might expect, there is a wide variety of views among the students as to what should happen next. However, having carefully read their correspondence, it seems to me that they are united in the view that, at the very minimum, changes need to be made to make allowances and concessions for the students to fully take account of the fact that they have been seriously disadvantaged. They are seeking significantly more than catch-up time next year.

I support the points raised by them, but I would go a step further. I have long believed that the leaving certificate is an out-of-date system, which places too much strain on the mental health of young people. I have long favoured increased State investment in third level to open it up for all who want it and to remove the pressures associated with accessing it. Given the cancellation or postponement of the leaving certificate this year, the crisis facing the leaving certificate next year and the increased number of voices within the education system questioning the exam itself on the grounds of fairness and stress pressures, I ask the Minister to set up a review of the leaving certificate exam system to deliberate and make recommendations on whether it should be maintained or replaced with something better.

When I questioned him on this issue last week, he stated it was a subject to which he intended to return. I invite him to do so this evening. If he is not in a position to give a detailed response, I invite him to answer three questions. First, does he accept that the leaving certificate course has been seriously disrupted for fifth years and that significant action must be taken to counter the disadvantage under which they now labour? Second, when he will have a detailed response for fifth years? Surely it is unfair that they be asked to wait for an entire summer before receiving clarity on this issue. Finally, I ask him to comment on my proposal that there be a review of the leaving certificate that will consider options, including its abolition and replacement with something better.

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