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Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath has revealed that ministers were not informed about Leaving Cert’s calculated rating error in the cabinet on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Mr. McGrath said that despite the fact that this issue has been known for a week, Education Minister Norma Foley did not inform her colleagues at their weekly meeting.
“So this issue was not raised in the Cabinet. So I’m just learning about this today in the same way as everyone else, and I haven’t had a chance to receive complete information about it. I have not received any detailed information from the department in this regard, but it was not discussed in the Cabinet, “he said.
Mr. McGrath said it was “understandable” that Ms. Foley did not reveal the details until she and her department had a sufficient understanding of the matter.
“Well, I can understand that before bringing an issue like that into the public domain, you need to be able to answer questions and the people affected will understandably want answers to the questions,” he said.
The minister called the episode a “deeply unfortunate turn of events,” and said he “really feels” for the class of 2020.
“What we have to do is make sure that all those who are affected get the course that they would have otherwise gotten,” he said.
McGrath said that if students end up with higher points as a result of a change in their grades, then the government has an obligation to make sure they get the place they would have otherwise gotten.
He also said that the contract signed with the external company must be examined to see what resources there are for the State.
“And, of course, that contract now needs to be examined very carefully, to see what recourse the state may have in relation to these errors. But I think the immediate priority is to address the problems that this creates for students, ”he said.
Mr. McGrath said that while this was the state’s first attempt at a grading system calculated under exceptional circumstances, they are not an excuse for the errors found.
“That is not an excuse for errors of this nature to occur. Clearly, they shouldn’t have happened and we just have to make sure people who were given a worse result than they should have been as a result of the errors are not served. That is the challenge that we have to face immediately, ”he said.
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