Last night I received an email from a leaving certificate student who feels completely forgotten about by the Department of Education as it is not recognising the true impact of Covid-19 on those who will sit the leaving certificate next June. I raised this specific issue with the Minister for Education in the Chamber on 13 May. The email states: "We missed a huge chunk of our in school learning due to the lockdown when we were in 5th year including the lack of group work and peer learning." Importantly, it goes on to state: "I think we are now incredibly behind and a lot of us are stressed and getting ourselves into a mess with the thought of the leaving cert." These students are looking for the option of accredited grades, just like last year's leaving certificate class. I am asking the Taoiseach to make that option available to them.

Last year's fifth years faced challenges due to Covid-19. We want to evolve from where we were and from the measures we had to take because of Covid-19 and we would like to think that next year's leaving certificate exams will be taking place in a different environment because of the vaccination programme and the ongoing successful impact of that programme in being able to reopen society and return to some degree of normality. There is a broader issue of the reform of the leaving certificate itself and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is doing that. In respect of the State Examinations Commission and the leaving certificate, mechanisms can be developed that take into account the experiences of fifth year students in preparing for the exam and the amount of curriculum covered so that greater flexibility, breadth and options and questions can be put, which help in that regard.