Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I was appalled when I heard the attitude of the CAO representative in Galway this morning. It is not the first time this has occurred. I have experience of this, having dealt with applications for third level courses. One often finds that students can be treated as issues or numbers by the CAO. The old-fashioned system whereby a guidance counsellor handled the applications in a school and ensured they were all processed well before the deadline, seems to have gone out the window. That is due to new technology which has failed students in this case. Students should come first, particularly at this vulnerable time when they are trying to make up their minds about third-level courses. Students and their families are worried about applications being processed properly. There is this attitude among clinical people who have no interest in students apart from the business of numbers. We will experience this again in September when the results are released and the system will be again clogged in such a way that students will not know whether they have points or places. It is not the first time the Central Applications Office in Galway has let down the system and us all, particularly educationalists. Perhaps we should ask the CAO to employ educationalists not business people.