The matters raised by Deputy Martin and Deputy Keogh are similar. I propose, therefore, that both be taken together. Deputy Martin and Deputy Keogh have five minutes each and the Minister has ten minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debates. - Missing Examination Submissions.
I wish to share my time with Deputy Browne.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I raise this issue to seek a full explanation from the Minister as to how a box containing the practical work of eight engineering students from Kilmuckridge vocational education committee, County Wexford, submitted as part of the leaving certificate examination, 1996, ended up near a bog in County Roscommon. It is unacceptable and inexcusable that errors of this nature should continue to occur in our public examination system. Following last year's debacle in the leaving certificate art examination, it further undermines the integrity of the public examination system and reduces public confidence.
This incident has caused unnecessary trauma and upset to the students, parents, teachers and school involved. They have prepared well for this examination and deserve better treatment. It is regrettable that the Minister personally has not conveyed her apologies to the students concerned or that somebody on her behalf did not contact the students directly, apologise and explain the situation to them. This has not yet happened; there has been no direct contact with the students or their families from either the Department or the Minister. That is regrettable and unacceptable. A more person friendly approach from the Minister and her team would be appreciated. Apologies via the media are not good enough.
It is also regrettable that the Department was slow to admit that an error had again taken place. The principal of the school involved was informed last Thursday at approximately 2 p.m. that a package had been found. He instructed An Post to forward it to the Department of Education and he then contacted the Department to alert it to the fact that a package had been mislaid. However, we only found out today, from newspaper reports, about this bizarre episode.
It is equally difficult to understand the Minister's incapacity to ascertain what happened in her Department and to obtain information on this matter. For example, she was unable to state on the RTE radio programme "News at One" today whether the box in question was signed for in her Department. It was either signed for, checked in and received or it was not. Why was the Minister not in a position to answer this simple question? I hope she will be in a position to answer it here.
The procedures governing the transferring and delivering of leaving certificate artwork and practicals appear to be extraordinarily loose. When one takes into account that the leaving certificate is crucial to the future careers of young people, it is incredible that episodes like this should continue to happen. I understand that a joint statement issued on the "Six One" news on RTE television by the Department of Education and Iarnród Éireann suggests that the box simply fell off the truck. Is the Minister seriously standing over this statement?
Will she further elaborate on it? Is there any checking procedure within the Department to ensure that all packages dispatched by schools arrive safely? We are not dealing with thousands of entries in this case.
Will the Minister explain why she considered it necessary to involve the Garda in the investigation of this episode? What are the implications of this move? Is she suggesting that somebody, somewhere, was behaving in an illegal or criminal manner? The Minister should clarify this issue thereby restoring confidence in the system over which she presides.
We do not want to wait another six months for answers to these questions. It is the Minister's responsibility to restore confidence to a public examination system, the integrity of which is badly shaken. She should convince the thousands of students involved in these examinations that their work will be handled with the care, respect and integrity it deserves.
(Wexford): The latest episode in the loss of examination material is causing much disquiet among students parents and teachers. At a time when tens of thousands of students are preparing for their examinations, incidents such as this hardly inspire confidence in the examination system. The indifferent attitude shown by the Minister and her Department to this and to previous losses of examination material is appalling. It is unacceptable to students whose futures, both academically and career wise, depends so much on the results they receive following the sitting of the leaving certificate.
The statement issued this evening by the Department of Education and Iarnród Éireann that the parcel containing the examination projects may have fallen from the back of a truck is regarded by the public as no more than a joke. Surely examination projects, which have been prepared by students after hours of study, deserve to be treated better than to be thrown on the back of an open truck, giving rise to the possibility of them being stolen or lost. It is an insult to students, parents and teachers to be treated in this way by the Department.
When did the Department first become aware that Kilmuckridge Vocational Education Committee examination projects were missing? Was it only last Thursday, when the principal so informed it? When did the Minister become aware of the missing box, or was she kept in the dark by her Department until yesterday? If the media had not become aware of the missing examination projects yesterday, would there have been a cover up in the Department? How could the examination box be lost from the back of a truck when, according to my information, the box was signed for by the Department of Education examination centre in Athlone? Perhaps the Minister will comment on this. Students studying for the intermediate and leaving certificate examinations this summer have lost faith in the ability of the Department or the Minister to oversee examination results properly.
Every parent facing into examinations is very concerned about this incident, and every student sitting them is fearful. The revelation concerning the discovery of the completed practical work for this year's leaving certificate is an extremely serious matter. It is extraordinary that the eight students from County Wexford had to rely on the observation powers of the County Roscommon turf cutter who luckily realised the importance of the parcel he found and brought it to the post office ensuring that it would arrive safely at the Department of Education's examination branch in Athlone.
A number of serious questions must be answered by the Minister. The first question she must address is why had a week elapsed before we learned about this blunder. What assurance can she give students that other such blunders will not arise?
The Minister said she already has fail safe measures in place. Given the previous blunders involving misplaced and lost examination submissions these are very necessary. The Minister should publish immediately the Price Waterhouse report on the investigation into the debacle in Sligo so that any steps she has put in place can be measured against the recommendations of that report. Does she intend to publish the Price Waterhouse report immediately?
Does the Minister believe that the assurances she has given today are sufficient to allay the concerns of students and parents? Last February she promised the publication of the Price Waterhouse report within weeks but we still have not seen it and we have no gauge against which to measure her fail-safe mechanisms. The Minister must also explain why Iarnrod Éireann insists that each box delivered to the examination centre in Athlone was signed for.
I urge the Minister to act quickly to reassure the thousands of students who will sit the junior and leaving certificate examinations this year that none of the work which they submit will be mislaid or lost. She must reassure these students, who are all facing the most stressful examination of their lives in a matter of weeks, that the Department is being run in an efficient manner and that they can be confident that the results they will be awarded later in the year will based on analysis of all the work they have submitted.
Since my initial statement, Iarnrod Éireann has actively assisted my Department in investigating this matter. I am now in a position to outline to the House the likely sequence of events which led to the discovery of a package of leaving certificate engineering work on a County Roscommon roadside.
An assorted delivery of 27 packages addressed to the Department was checked by Iarnrod Éireann at Athlone railway station, and then placed on a truck for delivery to my Department's Athlone office. On arrival at the Athlone office, the itemised consignment was signed for as a unit. It now appears that the most likely occurrence was that only 26 of the packages were delivered. Following Iarnrod Éireann's examination there was found to be a gap at the side of the canvass sided truck which would allow a package of that size to fall out.
After the Athlone delivery, the truck travelled the road on which the package was eventually found. Immediately upon clarifying the likely sequence of events, Iarnrod Éireann informed my Department of the outcome of the investigation which I have now brought to the attention of the House. I thank Iarnrod Éireann for their full co-operation in clarifying this matter. Arising from this incident, my Department and Iarnrod Éireann will be consulting further.
I wish to place on the record my sincerest appreciation and thanks to Mr. Joe Fallon who found this package and ensured that it was safely transmitted to the Athlone office. The school has been notified that the work for all its candidates is now in the Department's examination centre, and the Department has reassured the school authorities that all candidates' material is secure and will be examined in the normal way.
The House is aware that the leaving certificate examination is enormous in scale. It involves over 60,000 candidates and the assessment of 700,000 scripts and practicals.
How many do engineering? The Minister should not be disingenuous.
This is all the more reason our systems must always enable us to detect and correct human error. For this reason, I recently announced the introduction of a new fail-safe mechanism for this year's leaving certificate results. For the first time the 1996 leaving certificate results will be accompanied by a statement for any candidate whose result for a multiple component subject does not contain credit for all parts the candidate sat.
It will be a bit late then.
This is a timely innovation in the leaving certificate results system. Again for the first time schools will be provided with critical additional information in relation to a candidate's results.
I have also announced that when this year's leaving certificate results are issued a help line will be made available to assist schools with any inquiries they may have. The thrust of my policy in relation to the leaving certificate examination has been to make them as open and transparent as possible for students, their parents, teachers and schools.
The truck was very transparent.
This policy of transparency has been well demonstrated by my mould-breaking decision to publish the marking schemes for the first time. It will find further expression in the issue of this year's more detailed leaving certificate results.
(Wexford): That is an insult to this House.