Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 414: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the level of appeals by students of their grades in the leaving certificate examinations over the past five years; her views on the fact that over 20% of students that appealed their exam grades in 2006 received increased points following their appeal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39938/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations, including organising the holding of examinations and issuing the results of examinations. The Commission has put in place a number of measures designed to enhance transparency and to put candidates in the best possible position with regard to deciding whether or not to appeal a result in a particular subject. Following the issue of provisional results, all Leaving Certificate candidates are allowed to view their marked scripts. For this, they are provided with a copy of the official marking scheme and may be accompanied, while viewing their scripts, by a person of their own choosing, for example a parent, teacher or subject expert. Consequently, in many instances where an appeal is lodged, the candidate will have done so because the prospect of an upgrade has been seen to be very good. The use of split grades in the Irish examination system means that all results from A2 to D3 correspond to 5% bands. Results in these grade bands are of necessity within 2.5% (or the equivalent of one mark out of forty) of the nearest grade boundary. The statistics provided in the attached table show that the number of upgrades awarded on appeal has remained constant over recent years at approximately 0.6% of the total number of grades awarded.