First I wish to correct the Taoiseach. He stated earlier that Sinn Féin had not acknowledged the fact that the schools-----

I said that the Deputy had not acknowledge it in his speech.

That is not actually what he said, in fairness and it has been acknowledged by many Deputies from my party. It is welcome but as I have said to the Department and the Minister, we must ensure that our schools stay open, which is as great a challenge.

On Friday and again yesterday many students found out that the leaving certificate results given by their school had been adjusted downwards significantly by the standardisation process. Many people who made major sacrifices over the course of 12 months are deeply disappointed and are frustrated by the fact that the recourse open to them is very limited. I ask the Taoiseach to examine the possibility of making a more substantial appeals process available to students. I also ask him to make a final and concerted effort to expand the number of third level places in view of the numbers who were downgraded and who have missed out on their higher preference. Finally, for those who did the HPAT this year, that should be allowed to carry.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae on the same issue.

The cornerstone of the predictive grade system was that the professional judgment of the teacher would be key. Teachers gave their professional opinion on the fairest grade an individual student would achieve if he or she sat the leaving certificate exam but that professional opinion seems to have been questioned by the State Examinations Commission. A full 17% of all grades were reduced. At higher level one in five of the estimated grades was lowered. How many grades, if any, were upgraded? How was it acceptable for the State Examinations Commission to refer to students' junior certificate results to determine his or her placing at leaving certificate? This disregards three or more years of students' development and the peers process is a farce. Some students had four or five of their subjects downgraded. How can this happen? The grades this year are up by 4.4% on last year which means that those who sat the leaving certificate last year, took a year out and applied for a college place this year are disadvantaged because the points for entry have increased.

It is the function of Opposition sometimes to run with the hare and hunt with the hound but I do not know what they want at the end of the day. Sinn Féin's position was that socioeconomic profiling should be dropped but that there should be a standardisation process. I take it-----

We did not support-----

We are not going to have a conversation about this now.

My point is that it cannot have each-way bets on this.

Standardisation is important. It is very difficult for individual students in their individual circumstances, and I acknowledge that. We do not have an ideal situation in that we did not have a written exam and we did not have the normal leaving certificate, which always has standardisation, although it is not as visible in the normal presentation of exam results every year. Because of Covid-19, we have had a unique situation, which has proved very challenging for all concerned. However, a hell of a lot of work went into this by technocrats, if I can use that phrase, or people who are used to this kind of modelling and standardisation, and consultation did take place with Deputies. Once anyone starts pulling a thread on this, the whole thing unfurls. In terms of the appeal, the Deputy wants to change it as we go along. I do not think that is possible or feasible.