asked the Minister for Education if he will state the total number of candidates who presented themselves in 1958 for (a) the Intermediate Certificate examination and (b) the Leaving Certificate examination, the number who failed these examinations, and the number of unsuccessful candidates who would have passed but for their failure to obtain pass marks in Irish.
Ceisteanna—Questions. - School Examinations.
The number of candidates at the certificate examinations, 1958, was as follows: (a) Intermediate Certificate, 14,293; (b) Leaving Certificate, 6,943.
The number who failed at each examination was: (a) Intermediate Certificate, 2,551, (b) Leaving Certificate, 974.
The number of unsuccessful candidates who would have passed but for their failure to obtain pass marks in Irish was: (a) Intermediate Certificate, 504; (b) Leaving Certificate, 299.
The Minister says that 504 students failed the Intermediate Certificate examination because of failure to pass in Irish. Would the Minister state if these students failed in this examination solely because of failure to pass in Irish?
The figures I have given are slightly in the disfavour of Irish in this respect. In the Intermediate Certificate examination, a candidate is expected to pass——
Must.
Must pass, I should have said—in five subjects. Irish is not the only compulsory subject in these five subjects. If, having passed in four of the five subjects necessary for a pass, he fails in the fifth subject but obtains at least 30 per cent. of the total marks in that subject, he would be entitled to a pass. In the Intermediate Certificate, of the 504 students who were stated as having failed in the examination because they failed in Irish, 87 boys and 94 girls failed in Irish and in another subject necessary for a pass and obtained at least 30 per cent. in Irish and in that subject. A pass in Irish would have meant that they would have passed the examination as a whole, but, equally, a pass in the other subject would have meant that they would have passed the examination as a whole.