Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was very disappointed when the talks between the Minister for Education and Skills and the teachers' unions broke down yesterday. As Senator Fidelma Healy Eames has said, the members of the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection asked the previous Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, to increase the level of standardisation of the junior certificate. I was very pleased to note that the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, arrived at an offer of 60% standardised assessment. To be quite honest, I never thought the unions were seeking total standardisation, as the president of the TUI, Mr. Gerry Quinn, said this morning on RTE radio. He said that the system had to be standardised and not open to opinion. A mother knows her baby, a shepherd knows his flock and teachers know their pupils. A certain level of assessment by teachers of their pupils is reasonable. I hope they can get together again and sort out the issue for the benefit of the pupils.