My office, like everyone else's, has been receiving lots of calls and emails since the news about reverting to the traditional leaving certificate for this year was leaked last night. Students and parents are extremely anxious and confused. Many of them are angry not only about what has been announced but, just as importantly, they are also angry about how that happened. One parent told me that their child has lost almost all of their resource hours because of the pandemic, and she is extremely distressed at today's news. Many are similarly upset.

As a former secondary school teacher, the Taoiseach knows that the leaving certificate is a two-year examination and that the curriculum covers those two years. This year's cohort of leaving certificate students have not had two years to prepare. There have been lengthy school closures as a result of teachers and pupils being either ill or close contacts. In addition, students whose education was seriously disrupted because of Covid did not experience the pandemic equally. Those who were lucky enough to have access to remote teaching and, perhaps, even grinds during lockdowns do not compare with others who did not even have broadband or a tablet to keep up with coursework.

Last week, two separate reports from the Ombudsman for Children and the special rapporteur on child protection emphasised that while school closures had a negative impact on all children, they disproportionately impacted on disadvantaged and marginalised children. Today's announcement heaps further disadvantage onto that. I heard the Minister for Education speaking earlier. She stated she had abandoned the hybrid system because she did not feel it would be as fair as last year. Fair to whom?

In terms of identifying what the solution should be, there must be a genuine effort to recognise the impact Covid has had over the past two years and this must be more than just tinkering with examination papers. None of us believes that this is straightforward or easy.

Was the hybrid system ever on the table during the consultations? Given that we have known for the past two years that 25% of leaving certificate students did not sit the junior certificate, were contingency measures either considered or put in place in the past 12 months? How can the Taoiseach claim that the leaving certificate will be fair this year given what we all know about the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on marginalised and disadvantaged students?

First, it is about that very point of fairness. If one had proceeded on historic profiling to get an accredited grades system, that would have disadvantaged those disadvantaged students even more than is the case now. Students were very concerned about a number of things. One was grade inflation and that there would be a comparison with last year's results and outcomes in terms of grade inflation last year. The Minister has met that concern. Through the marking scheme and the standardisation that will apply here, the students of 2022 will not receive lower grades than the aggregate, as opposed to 2021. That grade inflation issue has been met. The State Examinations Commission, working with the Minister, has worked on that issue, which was an important one in terms of progression to further education, third level education, apprenticeships and so on, which is an important consideration once students have finished their leaving certificate.

The choice is not tinkering with the examination. Cutting the content by one third is not tinkering. Reducing the content of each paper by more than a third is not tinkering. These are very radical changes that will give significant choice to students not only in terms of sitting and answering questions - there will be reduced questions and more options - but in terms of study on specific syllabuses and revision. The same applies to the orals and practicals. As the Deputy will know, the orals and practicals are taking place during the holiday time to ensure students do not lose school time. For example, in the oral Irish, the scraith pictiúr is halved from 20 to ten. These are significant changes that will help students and will take account of what the Deputy correctly said has been a very challenging two years for this cohort of students. In terms of the papers they will be sitting and the orals and practicals they will be participating in, the burden will be reduced significantly to take account of the challenges this year's students have had to face.

On the accredited grades, that was looked at. It was on the table. It was looked at by the Minister and her officials, in particular. It is a very complex issue that cannot be wished away either. The whole accredited grades system is very complex and challenging. Added to the situation this year is the fact 25% of the students did not sit the junior certificate. Some people might say they did a completion certificate and so on, but not all teachers gave grades in those completion certificates. That would not have been available either as a mechanism to be used in accredited grades system. To a large extent, they were running out of options when it came to an alternative accredited grades system, primarily because 25% of that cohort did not do the junior certificate.

The two reports, the report of the Ombudsman for Children and the report of special rapporteur on child protection, emphasised the point about all children being impacted but the ones who were most impacted were those who were disadvantaged and marginalised. Where did that come into the thinking on what has been presented? Where are they specifically represented? What about the parent who contacted me this morning about their child who did not get resource hours and who will never get those hours back? That is about charting a course for a student to get to leaving certificate who may not have an ambition to go to college. It is an achievement to get the leaving certificate. Where is that factored in? There is a significant issue in terms of the assessment for those children and for students who did not have, for example, access to broadband or a tablet. We all remember the discussions we had on families who were relying on accessing information on a mobile phone and people sharing devices. That was this cohort as well. Where will that be recognised specifically in this? Where is the choice for that cohort?

First, I acknowledge the reports of the ombudsman and the special rapporteur in terms of their conclusions and observations in respect of children and students from certain backgrounds without access to technology or other factors. The impact the pandemic had on them was particularly profound. Not all students do the leaving certificate applied but for the cohort doing the leaving certificate applied, the scaling factor applied to the written papers, for example, was increased from 1.5 to 1.25, so in all papers that the various cohorts will be doing, adjustments will be made to take account of the challenges that they faced. That is why, for example, we were determined in January to reopen the schools. For a large period around this time last year, the schools were closed and we were in level 5 completely. The adjustments are very significant. Cutting by one third the content of most papers will give wide choice. There is also the fact the standardisation will ensure there will not be that disadvantage when compared with those who completed it last year.