This morning, one could almost hear the collective groan of hundreds of thousands of families as they listened on morning radio to the latest instalment of this Government's fiasco factory. People around the country are wondering if anybody is in charge at all. In a few short months, this Government has proven itself efficient in only one thing and that is the creation of chaos.

The predictive grades process has turned out to be a complete dog's dinner. What has actually been delivered looks nothing like what was designed in the first place. The Government said the process would be accurate, reliable and fair. It is none of these things. The predictive grades situation is a disaster for many students across the country.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in particular, have a fierce fondness for outsourcing serious State roles to private companies. This has obviously caused untold damage right across the sectors, especially in areas such as cancer screening. However, from the responses of the Minister and other Government Deputies over the past while, it looks like the Government is trying to outsource the blame for this particular issue to the private sector as well. At this juncture, the key question is: who is responsible for what has happened? I do not ask that question for the purpose of the blame game but because there will be a cost to this cock-up.

The class of 2020 has gone through extraordinary turmoil over the past year. Many will have serious financial costs heaped upon them. Some students will have taken courses in certain cities. They will have been set up there and have paid big deposits for houses, flats, etc., only to find out they have another preference in another city they want to take.

The Government now states it will provide extra places for those students. Those are extra places for students in a third level sector that is already on its knees financially. There is a €500 million shortfall in that sector. It will not be feasible to provide places for everybody; it is just not going to happen. Many students will be left in limbo in respect of their preferences for a full year and many of these cases will lead to court cases.

Did the company make this mistake? Is it consequently liable for the financial costs that will accrue to the State or did the Department give the incorrect directions? Will the taxpayer be left pick up the costs again?

The Government is ultimately responsible for managing our public administration system, the laws and the spending of taxpayers' money. The Minister for Education and Skills, specifically as part of the Government responsible for this particular area, her Department, the calculated grades office and all the tiers of administration we have are responsible. To assist this calculated grades process - no one wanted to do it but the pandemic forced it on us - they decided they wanted to get in some of the best international expertise they could, that is, people who had knowledge of the area in this country. It was appropriate for them to seek that international expertise and bring it in.

There is a critical strength and benefit to the leaving certificate. There are some downsides to the leaving certificate but, to my mind, one great strength is that it is a level playing field for everyone and for every household in this country. No matter where one comes from, what school one went to or what one's background is, we all believe, truthfully, the leaving certificate is a level playing field test and not an arbitrary one. There is no benefit to someone living in one part of the country or to someone coming from one side of society or from another side. Everyone knows it is fair, and I believe in the grading, the testing and the process. No one wanted to not be able to do the leaving certificate this year. I believe, however, at the end of this process that still holds true.

It is far better that a mistake is recognised, admitted to and immediately acted on in an open way to retain that trust in the integrity of the system.

Various Members have had a chance to interview and question Department officials, people from the calculated grades office and others on how they are managing this. My view is that they have done the best thing in a difficult and almost impossible situation. We have seen similar difficulties in other countries. However, I trust that what they are doing here is to address an unfortunate error. There is deep regret that it occurred. The error was recognised by the person who made it. When they discovered they made the mistake they immediately said that. It is far better that the person said an error was made, and we need to reflect on what the consequences are. Far better than that, to my mind, is that the Department said it wanted to get the truth of this and that it brought in international, independent and highly-regarded experts so that it could have confidence that their review would tell it that, hopefully, there were no further errors and would explain how and why the actual error was made so that it is absolutely clear what happened and that trust in the system is ultimately protected.

It is important that the younger students, who are key to this, believe they got the correct result in the end. That will be the outcome of this very unfortunate process. They will also get the college place they should have got based on that revision. I think any teacher would say that if a student or anyone else made a mistake, they should admit it, rectify it and learn from it. That is what will happen here.

Obviously, it is better not to make a mistake in the first place than have to put up a hand to admit making a mistake. The Minister has tried to paint the Government as noble for having admitted the mistake in this case. However, the Government knew about this mistake a week ago. The Taoiseach, who has made a big play of education during this Government, knew about this mistake a week ago. The Minister for only good news stories, Deputy Harris, who did not appear at the press conference yesterday, has not been available to answer questions since. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, is making herself available in the graveyard shift tonight at 9 o'clock, when hopefully from the Government's perspective most Deputies will have hit the hills. That does not look like a Government with its hands up saying, "We've made a mistake. Let's be transparent about this."

The Minister may have answered this key question. Is the Government taking full responsibility for this? Does that mean the taxpayer foots the bill yet again?

I have said that confidence in the system is critical. I prefer that I am here able to answer some of the valid and appropriate questions Members of the Opposition have. The Minister for Education and Skills will be able to answer any further questions this evening. I would prefer to be able to stand up now with the full knowledge, as I do now, of what had actually happened, which I do not believe would have been available or was not actually available earlier this week. It was more important to get the facts right, get the resolution and rectification of the problem right and then to present the approach we plan to take.

Had we taken the other route and immediately said there was a problem without being sure about the consequences, the numbers or the implications for the CAO and college places, tens of thousands of students, all of whom would fear that there are implications for them, would spend a week wanting to know the answers to those valid questions. It was more appropriate to get this sorted as best we can - and we will - and then openly and transparently go to the Dáil and outline the difficulties we have.

On contractual arrangements, if someone's contract has not delivered or a mistake has been made, obviously that is a legal contractual issue to be managed after the fact. The first thing is to get the code checked, which will be done, get the revised assessment of students with higher grades and then allocate third level places to them in a timely manner. That is what we will focus on.