Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

During these uncertain times, some things remain certain. One of these certainties is that pupils will be sitting their leaving certificate this year in one form or another. The Minister has had more than enough time to get her house in order and prepare for the situation in which leaving certificate students now find themselves. The students want a clear message from the Government that they will be able to sit a hybrid leaving certificate this year the same as the class of 2021. The message from leaving certificate students could not be any clearer: they need a choice between written exams and calculated grading in recognition of the significant disruption that they have experienced in their learning over the past two years due to Covid-19. The findings of a poll this week by ISSU, the largest representative body for second level students on the island of Ireland, show that more than two thirds of leaving certificate students want a hybrid exam. These voices must be listened to. The Minister's proposal of traditional exams simply must not go ahead. Leaving certificate students, particularly those without access to devices or a stable Internet connection, faced significant disruption to their learning when school buildings were closed between January and March 2021. My Sinn Féin colleagues and I are calling on the Government to give students a choice this year. It is not too much to ask.

Covid-19 has shone a bright light on the failings in our educational system and the years of chronic underinvestment by successive Governments. My phone has not stopped ringing since last year with calls from parents concerned about getting secondary school places for their children. I have raised this matter with the Minister previously. Parents from Clondalkin and Lucan are seeing their children being placed on waiting lists for secondary schools with little assurance that they will get any. The youth population of Dublin Mid-West has increased over the years but Governments have failed to plan for this in terms of school provision. The Department of Education only recently decided not to build a school in Kilcarbery despite the council allocating land and the fact that there will be a further 1,000 houses in the area. The people and pupils of Dublin Mid-West are feeling ignored.

See this speech in context