I will deal with the issue of the grades and I do not have time to get in of the ins and outs of who knew what and when. The Minister said all students will get the courses they deserve on the basis of the marks. Does that mean this year? Is this absolutely guaranteed? I have heard other commentary that suggests differently. With regard to how this happened, I have questions about the testing. As the worst programmer that ever walked God's green earth, I know we have all come up with sample data that we run through to find these issues. I do not understand. It sounds to me like something fairly basic, whereby somebody had a less than or equal to sign in the wrong place and the testing did not find it. I just want an answer. The more important answer is that students need delivery now and the costs need to be covered for them.

I would like to come in on this point. What preparations are being made to look after next year's leaving certificate students and to ensure that those who sat the leaving certificate before this year are not further penalised? What preparations are being put in place to assist those students who wish to take the exam in November? Are schools being told to give assistance and support to these students? Students have gone through so much with Covid-19 and they are now looking for support from their schools. Everything is being put online but that is not good enough. The Department needs to give information to the schools to help these students who are resitting their exams.

I will start with the issue of next year's leaving certificate students. It is clear that everyone's preference would have been to have sat the leaving certificate this year but it was not possible. That was the decision that was made. One thing the Government is saying about the pandemic is that we will keep the schools open. It is critical for the mental health and development of our children that we will do whatever it takes to do this. In these circumstances, the message to the upcoming leaving certificate students is that there will be leaving certificate exams next May and June. They will have a difficult time because they have lost out on class time and they have had a different experience. The syllabus and the exams will reflect this. They absolutely have to expect that they will sit the leaving certificate.

We will not know the numbers until the model is run with this revised code and it is checked to ensure there are no other errors in it. It is impossible to know precisely when that will be. As I said earlier, last year some 3,000 students got an upgrade. This issue only applies to upgrades. There is no downgrading in this. Last year's upgrades led to 600 students being successful in getting a different application. If we play that statistic, that is why one gets to 1,000 places. I believe it will be fewer. That had a qualification in that there were people who wanted an upgrade. In this instance, it is random.

We must move on. I call Deputy Michael Collins.

Maybe I could have a supplementary.

No, there are no supplementaries. There is only one minute for a reply.