Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Following on from the mess yesterday and where we are coming from with calculated grades, the Government set up a calculated grades office in the Department of Education and Skills. Second, it set up the national standardisation group. Third, it set up the independent steering committee to oversee the implementation. Fourth, on top of those, the independent expert Dr. Janet Brown was appointed as an external reviewer. As such there were four layers in order to do the calculated grades. Then on 24 August all of that work changed suddenly. This was because the assistant secretary in the Department sent out a memo and changed the modelling. How in the name of God did these four layers not catch on that there was something wrong here?

I have a second question. We said this at the time but was 24 August not too late in the day to be changing the model which all 61,000 students in Ireland were depending on?

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