Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know there was not.

The issue I want to raise relates to the leaving certificate. There were voices on all sides of this Chamber last week appealing to the Government, particularly the Minister for Education, to work towards a hybrid model.We made those calls because all Members have had contact from students and parents who are really concerned. The idea of moving to a traditional leaving certificate during the year that could never be described as traditional, is just fundamentally unfair. Last week I made the point that not only had the Ombudsman for Children called for a hybrid leaving certificate, it was hugely disappointing that the Minister for Education would ignore the advice of the Ombudsman for Children.

Unfortunately, through nobody's fault, there are significant sections of leaving certificate students who have not been able to cover the course. This is the fundamental point. They have not been able to cover the course, so how is it appropriate to stick with the traditional leaving certificate model? All of us know the stress that students undergo with the leaving certificate. I still wake up occasionally remembering the French exam back in 1983. The stress of the past two years, however, has been so intense. So many of our young people have had to undergo that stress in isolation. Their usual social channels of meeting with colleagues and friends, which are so important when one is working towards the leaving certificate, and which give reassurance and knowledge and strengthen solidarity, have just not been there for so long. People seem to forget that the leaving certificate is a two-year course and that most of last year was spent online.

I cannot understand this decision. Fundamentally it lets down our students and parents, our friends and their families. I would appeal to everyone to address this issue, to come back to the Minister for Education and call on her to revisit this urgently. It is not fair and it is not just. I am aware that the Department wants to keep a conservative line, and this is what civil servants often do, unfortunately. Leadership would have been shown if the Minister had said, "No, we need to stick with the hybrid model". This is a failure of leadership.