Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for yet again illustrating his hands-on approach to these matters. The suggestion of announcing that there is a mistake in something in writing is not good enough. When these errors are discovered after printing we should be able to print erratum slips to deal with that because I can imagine difficulties arising under examination conditions if an announcement is made in what may be a very large hall, where acoustical difficulties may arise. If the error is in print the correction should be in print, and I ask the Minister to consider that.

The SEC should comment on the fact that more errors than were apologised for have since come to light, and we have drawn attention to those in the mathematics papers and perhaps be more fulsome in its apology. We are talking about young people of 14 or 15 years of age doing the junior certificate and this could give them a bad impression of education. We are all there to try to help restore Ireland for them, and this is not a very good start.

I appreciate the Minister's sincerity and involvement, and I thank Senator Clune for raising the matter on the Adjournment. I wish the Minister well. His attitude towards young people and students might help to inform some of these apologies and explanations. On "Morning Ireland" Cathal Mac Coille was worried that the tone was to justify the organisation and not to consider the 116,000 young people, as the Minister did on the day the examinations started.