Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not too late for the Minister to do the right thing. Over the past two years, more than 6,000 people have died with Covid in the State and 9,159 on the island. In excess of 1 million have contracted the virus. Millions more have been close contacts. Leaving certificate students and their families are not immune. They are not different. They are part of society and what society had to endure. I do not think anyone would argue the fact that the high levels of absence among students and teachers, through no fault of their own, have had a significant impact on the ability of leaving certificate students to prepare thoroughly in the way they need to for what is probably the most important exam in their lives.

Leaving certificate students faced significant disruption to their learning when school buildings were closed between January and March 2021, particularly those without access to electronic devices or a stable Internet connection. I deal with issues every day in County Mayo and there is not a single home yet that has been connected under the national broadband plan. One mother wrote to me saying her daughter has been a consistent hard worker throughout her school life but the distractions of the past two years have knocked her confidence and she is struggling to get by from day to day. They live in a rural area of Mayo with an extremely unreliable Internet connection and, therefore, online learning presented its own challenges. Whenever the connection failed, there was a process of trying to catch up with other students. The constant loss of class time due to teacher and pupil absences, the freezing conditions in the classroom and the constant uncertainty have all wreaked havoc. She goes on to say that words cannot express how much it would mean to have an option of a hybrid model leaving certificate giving students the choice they are rightly entitled to, given the trauma that they have suffered.

A student wrote to me saying they had recently contracted the coronavirus and were extremely ill for a number of days. While the school was extremely supportive, the student did miss out. The student wrote to me as they are sure they are not the only leaving certificate student who has been in this situation. The student did not contract the virus through carelessness but through a parent who was a front-line worker. Many of the students I have heard from are sons and daughters of front-line workers who have been going through extreme pressure for the past two years as well. I ask the Minister to take that into consideration. There are many more emails and calls and I know every Deputy has received them as well. The accounts are far more convincing than the Government's justification for not offering the hybrid leaving certificate.

I fundamentally reject the idea that a hybrid model is to blame for grade inflation. Grade inflation can be a problem or it can be managed properly in any examination system. I believe it can be managed properly. The fact that grade inflation has been allowed to balloon two years in a row has created real damage to the system and caused stress and hardship for many students. This does not mean giving students the option of a hybrid model last year was wrong. It was exactly the right thing to do and was something I, Deputy Ó Laoghaire and other colleagues in Sinn Féin called for and supported. Grade inflation can, and must, be managed better to ensure we do not have a repeat of the past two years.

Government constantly pats itself on the back for increasing the number of college places but without proper funding to underpin it, it just means the third-level sector is bursting at the seams. Funding and resources need to be targeted, particularly for high-demand courses. The small numbers in medicine go nowhere near addressing the shortage of doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists and all of the healthcare disciplines.

This year's cohort of leaving certificate students should not be punished due to the mistakes in the management of the hybrid system last year. We should learn from that experience to ensure it is executed better this time around. Being decisive and making an early decision will help. It will give staff, the Department and all stakeholders who have been through an extremely challenging time more time to prepare.

I speak as a mother of a leaving certificate student. I am fortunate because we can get extra grinds or help if we need it. Inequalities are being created within the system by not giving a choice and this has led to stress and mental health problems. I am talking about really resilient youngsters who have gone through a terrible time in the past two years. I am asking the Minister to take that into consideration. We have time over the next couple of years to bring back the system to the way it should be through the reform of the leaving certificate as well. I ask her not to make this cohort of leaving certificate students carry the can for everything.

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