Vol. 501 No. 6
427 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will allow a person (details supplied) in County Meath access to her English leaving certificate papers; and if he will co-operate with this request. [7004/99]
Last year in the interests of greater openness and transparency, I arranged for candidates, for the first time ever, to have access to their marked examination scripts in many subjects. As a result, candidates were able to inform themselves regarding the accuracy of the marking and in the light of this, make an informed decision regarding the need to appeal. The measure was introduced with effect from the 1998 examinations and did not apply retrospectively to earlier examinations.
With in excess of one million scripts received each year, my Department's policy is to dispose of these scripts on an annual basis. Scripts which have been the subject of an appeal are retrained for an additional year before disposal. Thus scripts appealed at the 1997 examination were disposed of at the end of 1998. The script in question in this case was the subject of an appeal and was disposed of along with the other appeal scripts for 1997. Accordingly the issue of granting access does not arise.
