Vol. 517 No. 6
405 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 301 of 4 April 2000, the resources he has allocated to locate the missing cassette recording; the way in which this tape has been misplaced; and the recourse available in this case. [10578/00]
As indicated in the response to Question No. 301, the practice of taping all the candidates in the oral Irish part of the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge was introduced in April 1999 so that a record of the examination would be available in the case of appeals. The procedure has been that each of the oral examiners sends his/her tapes to the chief examiner for forwarding to the primary administration section of the Department in Athlone. Unfortunately the particular cassette relating to this individual's examination has been mislaid in this process. All persons involved in this process have been requested again to check their files and offices in an effort to locate the tape.
In addition, my Department in a letter dated 22 March, offered to make an inspector available to meet with the person in question to offer advice on any aspect of the oral Irish examination. Furthermore the examiner's notes in relation to the October examination will also be made available to the person. A response to this letter has not, as yet, been received within my Department.
I would reiterate, however, that the fact that the tape has not been located does not in any way invalidate the results of the examination. The marks were awarded by the examiner on the basis of the candidate's performance on the occasion of the oral Irish examination and not on a later listening to the cassette recording.
