Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

My office, like everyone else's, has been receiving lots of calls and emails since the news about reverting to the traditional leaving certificate for this year was leaked last night. Students and parents are extremely anxious and confused. Many of them are angry not only about what has been announced but, just as importantly, they are also angry about how that happened. One parent told me that their child has lost almost all of their resource hours because of the pandemic, and she is extremely distressed at today's news. Many are similarly upset.

As a former secondary school teacher, the Taoiseach knows that the leaving certificate is a two-year examination and that the curriculum covers those two years. This year's cohort of leaving certificate students have not had two years to prepare. There have been lengthy school closures as a result of teachers and pupils being either ill or close contacts. In addition, students whose education was seriously disrupted because of Covid did not experience the pandemic equally. Those who were lucky enough to have access to remote teaching and, perhaps, even grinds during lockdowns do not compare with others who did not even have broadband or a tablet to keep up with coursework.

Last week, two separate reports from the Ombudsman for Children and the special rapporteur on child protection emphasised that while school closures had a negative impact on all children, they disproportionately impacted on disadvantaged and marginalised children. Today's announcement heaps further disadvantage onto that. I heard the Minister for Education speaking earlier. She stated she had abandoned the hybrid system because she did not feel it would be as fair as last year. Fair to whom?

In terms of identifying what the solution should be, there must be a genuine effort to recognise the impact Covid has had over the past two years and this must be more than just tinkering with examination papers. None of us believes that this is straightforward or easy.

Was the hybrid system ever on the table during the consultations? Given that we have known for the past two years that 25% of leaving certificate students did not sit the junior certificate, were contingency measures either considered or put in place in the past 12 months? How can the Taoiseach claim that the leaving certificate will be fair this year given what we all know about the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on marginalised and disadvantaged students?

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