Statements made by Deputy McGrath on this matter surprised me. Rather than frighten parents who are concerned — we agree on this — about the cost burden, the Deputy should have made inquiries as to what will happen. The overall revision of the leaving certificate subjects began in 1992. A plan of work was approved by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, which has a representative from the National Parents Council, and it is aware of the phasing in of the changes. There has been no review of the nine phase 1 subjects for 20 years and, for example, there has never been a change in the accounting syllabus. The changes in Gaeilge were proposed in the Green Paper.
The changes in the four modern languages are combined to arrangements for the assessment of pupils and related teaching materials. The overall revision for the leaving certificates, which has to be welcomed, is one of the good news stories from the Department of Education. We are looking for a continuity programme in the junior certificate syllabus and a development in the leaving certificate curriculum that would be relevant to the needs of all pupils. Following the initial briefing with the NCCA and the Irish education publishers, no new textbooks will be required in five of the nine phase 1 subjects, namely, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Physics. The position in regard to Chemistry is unclear but if new textbooks are required in this subject, I will inform the Deputy. There are 31 subjects in the leaving certificate and I would suggest a phased revision of syllabi to take place in an orderly and planned way so that we can minimise, for all concerned, the costs associated with periodic revisions of the curriculum. We are talking about the beginning of a phase, which includes those five or six subjects not requiring new textbooks, that will not take place until September 1995.