James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here to discuss this very important issue. The main purpose of the Bill is to confer on the State Examinations Commission the necessary powers to run a non-examination based form of assessment to inform students' leaving certificate results. Candidates for the leaving certificate in 2021 can now opt to sit the usual written examination in June or apply for grades accredited by the State Examinations Commission to be issued to them, or both.

As the youngest Member of the House, I wish to use my time on this issue to speak about the need to reform the leaving certificate system and how continuous assessment may be a step in the right direction to such reform. I recognise the difficult time it has been for leaving certificate students over the past two years. They have been dealt a very difficult hand and we, as policymakers, should do all we can to ensure the system will put in place the mechanisms to ensure that all the work those students have done throughout their education will be recognised in terms of the best possible outcomes for them.

It is fair to say that we have all faced many challenges since Covid-19 arrived in Ireland, but it has been particularly difficult for younger people. I am the Member of the House who most recently completed the leaving certificate and I have to say it is not an easy thing for anyone to do. It is extraordinarily difficult and I feel a great degree of empathy for the students who are going through that process. For them to go through it during the time of Covid-19 has been extraordinarily difficult. The Bill is one of many measures that I hope the Department will be working on to try to alleviate some of the issues currently being encountered by leaving certificate students.

I wish to heavily emphasise the requirement for the Department to work closely with the students who are coming into their examination years, such as those in fifth year, while also being cognisant of the fact that the education of those doing their leaving certificate examination this year was also badly hampered last year by Covid-19.

I acknowledge the work of the Minister. In her portfolio, she has had one of the most difficult tasks of any member of the Cabinet. It is a testament to her, as a newly-elected Member of Dáil Éireann, that she was able to go in and do the job that she has done. She must be commended for that. I note that on the record of the House. I would not wish her job on anyone at the moment because of how difficult it was but her expertise in the area of education was quite helpful. We have to admit that she was an outsider in terms of the Oireachtas. She worked for a local authority for many years. In drastic situations such as Covid-19, it can be helpful to have a breath of fresh air in Departments and be able to shake things up.

To come back to the central message on the area of reform, it would be very much a missed opportunity if we were not to address the many challenges that face secondary education and explore how we can reform it to make it better for students, improve their opportunities in life and improve their education overall. I was struck by the comments of a previous speaker around the issue of the Irish language. He is right in the sense that many people go through primary and secondary education and exit secondary school, after doing up to 16 years of study on the Irish language, without being able to speak it. I am guilty in that regard and I try to improve my Irish every day, but we, as a Government, could definitely do more work on the whole area of foreign languages.

The Minister is well aware of the significant challenges in east Cork, my area, around school capacity and the constraints and difficulties encountered in that regard by many students in the area. I commend them on the work they have been doing while going through those particular issues. Many of them do not have proper school facilities in their communities. We need to address that challenge as well.

I wish the Minister well in her work. I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on this issue.

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