John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending in person. She carries a great burden at this time – the burden of office associated with looking after and ensuring the smooth running of our primary and second level education systems during these extraordinarily challenging times. The country, and certainly her party colleagues and everybody in the Dáil, are grateful for the job she is doing and the manner in which she has taken on her task.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan has, in his usual erudite way, made most of the points I wanted to make, including the point on the leaving certificate being a great leveller. Historically, there was a suspicion that if one went to a school with a high proportion of pupils from so-called disadvantaged areas, one would be unfairly penalised in the marking of the leaving certificate examinations. To some degree, we are now looking at the other side of that coin. As Deputy O'Callaghan said, this matter needs to be treated with a sense of urgency that might not have been applied in respect of disadvantaged pupils in the past.

The predicted grading has gone enormously well, and the Minister and her Department deserve great plaudits for that, but it appears to have been unfair on some students, who appear to come disproportionately from schools that achieved excellent results in previous years. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response. I have no doubt that it will be measured, bearing in mind the context of threatened High Court proceedings, appeals, etc. We are grateful for the Minister's presence.

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