Since today is the first day of public examinations I and all Members of the House offer best wishes to the many thousands of students sitting the junior and leaving certificate examinations.
I might draw Deputy Martin's attention to what I said in replying to his question about unruly behaviour. I was very careful to talk about the level of such behaviour by a very small number of students. When the Deputy's family reaches the stage of sitting the junior and leaving certificates I am sure he would not expect them to be among a certain number of students who engage in such unruly behaviour, in celebrating examination results. I have initiated a feasibility study on bringing forward the date for issuing the results of the junior certificate examination, in response to calls from parents' associations who are somewhat worried that his behaviour may be receiving more media coverage than it deserves. I have a responsibility to respond to such calls and ensure that nothing I or my Department do will encourage such unruly behaviour. Of course, the priority is to issue the leaving certificate examination results. There have been many technological improvements and innovations within the Examinations Division in Athlone, with the aid of whose officials we have been able to bring forward the issuing of the junior certificate results to Tuesday, 12 September, 1995.
Parents and school principals have a particular role to play. For instance, when I impart information on schools dismissing children for the remainder of the day, as opposed to neighbouring schools, who allow their students convey the results to their parents and return to school, we must remember there are a number of parties involved in handling such matters, particularly the junior certificate examination results. With the technological advances now available to my Department we will be able to move forward so that the results can be issued in August. Since, as is well known, all the papers are corrected simultaneously, it is the departmental priority to feed the leaving certificate results into the system. If An Post cannot guarantee to deliver examination results to 65,000 individual addresses on one day we should await the outcome of the feasibility study and ascertain what can be done next year. In the meantime, I would request parents and school principals to respond positively to the earlier date for the issue of the examination results this year, in order that displays of unruly behaviour, to which Deputy Martin referred, are not alone discouraged but, if possible, eliminated.