Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I can give my view and everybody else has a view. The Deputy spoke about certainty. When it was proposed to hold the leaving certificate exams last November in the middle of a period of level 5 restrictions, some doubt was cast as to whether we could deliver that. Yet again, taking on board the public health advice made available, a full leaving certificate written exam was very successfully offered and achieved in November. The advisory group is taking cognisance of that and of all we learned in the running of the exams in November. It is listening to all the other voices that are part of the stakeholder engagement as we move forward. Those deliberations will continue, always underpinned by public health advice.

I absolutely and categorically agree with the Deputy that students do better in school. That has always been my view. Throughout level 5 and difficult circumstances from September to December, when many businesses and other places were closing, we managed very successfully to keep schools open for that reason. The schools have closed due to significant mobility in the education sector and it has been necessary to stand down more than 900,000 people in the education sector to benefit wider society.

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