Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the great levellers of Irish society has been the leaving certificate examination. No matter who one was or where one came from, when one sat the examination, one knew one’s papers would be marked objectively and fairly. In many respects, an outstanding student from Castleisland was treated the same as an outstanding student from Castleknock. Unfortunately, that has not occurred this year. Obviously, it was as a result of the pandemic that new, extraordinary measures had to be put in place. To a large extent, those efforts were successful but there is a large contingent of students who were treated very unfairly by the State in this process. These were the students whose estimated grades, provided by their teachers, were marked down by the State during the standardisation process.

The decision made about the students has had a major impact on their lives. Not only did very many of them not get the first course they were seeking but they did not even get the second, third or fourth. Had they received the marks their teacher originally gave them, they would have been able to get into the courses they had at the top of their CAO list. Unfortunately, the CAO process, which is usually very transparent, has not become transparent as a result of this.

I have spoken to so many parents and children over recent days that I could not go into the full detail with the Minister. It would take me so long. The Minister will no doubt be aware, however, that there is considerable upset over what happened to the students. They were treated unfairly. It appears to be the case that these students, who are students of schools that previously excelled in the leaving certificate examinations, were downgraded because of their schools' excellence. That is not fair. The State needs to acknowledge that the students were treated unfairly. We need to recognise this and try to determine what we can do for them.

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