Sixth-year students in our secondary schools have lost a lot of teaching time. The Minister for Education has made some changes to leaving certificate 2021 to try to take account of this.

Coming off the back of the mid-term break, it is fair to say that there is a growing feeling among students that the Minister's changes do not go far enough. An Instagram poll that I recently organised saw nearly 3,000 students participate, with more than 90% saying that the changes needed to go further and more concessions needed to be made. They said that the changes to be considered should include the cancellation of the leaving certificate. That is the feedback we received. Does the Government intend to listen to these students? If so, what changes to the leaving certificate is the Government considering making?

What the Government has said is a very clear commitment and intention to hold the leaving certificate next year. We are giving that certainty to the current cohort of students who are now in sixth year, who had a difficult year last year in fifth year - I am sorry, as I meant this year, but it was last year's academic year - because of Covid-19, the degree of disruption that caused and the fact that schools were closed for quite some time. Account will be taken of that in terms of how the examinations are designed and in terms of the curriculum and the options and the choices. They will be designed in such a way as to take on board the challenges that the students have because they would have missed a significant amount of time last year, particularly in respect of subjects like history and languages. Therefore, the idea would be to give a far greater degree of choice to students who will be sitting the exam next year. I have no doubt that the Minister for Education and, indeed, the examinations board and the Department are giving this ongoing attention. I would surmise-----