Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What has been set out today is that there will be additional choice which means there is greater time and less content required to be studied to take these exams in June. We are not just talking about the written exams but also the orals and practical exams. There have been accommodations along the line there. That was a chief consideration for the students and one they raised consistently around the table. They felt that the class of 2022 could not compete with the class of 2021 because of grade inflation. A concession was rightly made to acknowledge that grade inflation for the class of 2022 would be on a par with that of 2021.

On accredited grades, at the heart of it, the students wanted it to be fair. To afford students accredited grades would not be as fair as I would like when we do not have the data that are necessary for standardisation or comparability.

See this speech in context