Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Government is ultimately responsible for managing our public administration system, the laws and the spending of taxpayers' money. The Minister for Education and Skills, specifically as part of the Government responsible for this particular area, her Department, the calculated grades office and all the tiers of administration we have are responsible. To assist this calculated grades process - no one wanted to do it but the pandemic forced it on us - they decided they wanted to get in some of the best international expertise they could, that is, people who had knowledge of the area in this country. It was appropriate for them to seek that international expertise and bring it in.

There is a critical strength and benefit to the leaving certificate. There are some downsides to the leaving certificate but, to my mind, one great strength is that it is a level playing field for everyone and for every household in this country. No matter where one comes from, what school one went to or what one's background is, we all believe, truthfully, the leaving certificate is a level playing field test and not an arbitrary one. There is no benefit to someone living in one part of the country or to someone coming from one side of society or from another side. Everyone knows it is fair, and I believe in the grading, the testing and the process. No one wanted to not be able to do the leaving certificate this year. I believe, however, at the end of this process that still holds true.

It is far better that a mistake is recognised, admitted to and immediately acted on in an open way to retain that trust in the integrity of the system.

Various Members have had a chance to interview and question Department officials, people from the calculated grades office and others on how they are managing this. My view is that they have done the best thing in a difficult and almost impossible situation. We have seen similar difficulties in other countries. However, I trust that what they are doing here is to address an unfortunate error. There is deep regret that it occurred. The error was recognised by the person who made it. When they discovered they made the mistake they immediately said that. It is far better that the person said an error was made, and we need to reflect on what the consequences are. Far better than that, to my mind, is that the Department said it wanted to get the truth of this and that it brought in international, independent and highly-regarded experts so that it could have confidence that their review would tell it that, hopefully, there were no further errors and would explain how and why the actual error was made so that it is absolutely clear what happened and that trust in the system is ultimately protected.

It is important that the younger students, who are key to this, believe they got the correct result in the end. That will be the outcome of this very unfortunate process. They will also get the college place they should have got based on that revision. I think any teacher would say that if a student or anyone else made a mistake, they should admit it, rectify it and learn from it. That is what will happen here.

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