Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister of State has probably been inundated as I have - probably more so than me - with emails from worried leaving cert students, parents and teachers about the unfair disadvantage that this year's students will be put at due to the Government's grade deflation proposals. This is not just a question of next year or the year after. It is something that will have an impact on young people for the rest of their lives. An email from one worried parent put the problem very well. It stated that the students between 2020 and 2024 had a massive advantage over any other leaving cert students they competed against. According to the email, in 2024, average grade inflation was 7.5% while in 2025 it will be lowered to 5.5% and, therefore, the class of 2025 will get approximately 15 or 16 points fewer than last year's class. The email stated that there was an unprecedented number of CAO applicants from previous years - one in four and that, since 25% of this year's CAO applicants would have a huge advantage over the 75% of leaving cert students sitting the exams in June 2025, students from this year would miss out on places they should be offered if the Department did not address this urgently.

I cannot understand how the Minister of State is going to stand over this unfairness, how he cannot see the problem that is here or the many potential solutions that are being suggested that will not unfairly disadvantage anyone. It is obviously unfair for this year's students to be marked harder than last year's but it is also unfair if students from previous years, who were told they got a certain number of points, were to have those points reduced, especially when they were never warned this could happen. I propose a more radical solution, which is the same radical solution we have been proposing since the start of the Covid crisis, namely, that there would be open access to university for all. On the radio last week, the Minister said that 80% to 90% of students get their top choice. Would it be so onerous to invest so that all of them get it?

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